The South American arms race

The growing arsenal of Venezuela has caused alarm among many who fear leftist revolutionary talk of the country's flamboyant leader, Hugo Chavez, is more than just bluster.

Since 2005, Venezuela has spent more than $4.3 billion on weapons, mostly purchased from Russia. These include a new fleet of 24 Sukhoi Su-30s airplanes as well as nine 636 and 677E Amur-class diesel-powered submarines. That has made Venezuela Latin America's largest weapons buyer and placing it ahead of other major purchasers in international arms markets like Pakistan and Iran.

The stakes were raised this week when Venezuela announced that it is building two plants to make Kalashnikov assault rifles making it the first country to win a production license for the guns since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The buying spree has been matched by Chile who, since 2000, has shelled out $2.8 billion for weapons including 10 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter planes, 18 second-hand similar warplanes from the Netherlands, 16 frigates, two submarines and 118 Leopard IIA4 tanks from Germany.

The other big arms spender is Colombia who has been redoubling it's military purchases in recent years. Since 2000, the country has increased defense from $2.6 billion to more $4.48 billion last year. That has been bolstered by the more than $5 billion in funding from the US to finance anti-drug efforts. A situation that has helped president Alvaro Uribe make progress against leftist rebels and paramilitary groups but has rankled neighboring Venezuela.


Find out more about South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

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