MOSCOW: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said at a press conference the country plans to buy weapons and Russian tanks over a possible increase in U.S. military personnel in neighboring Colombia.
Chavez urged U.S. President Barack Obama not to increase the country’s military contingent at bases in Colombia and said the move could lead to a war in the region.
“These bases [in Colombia] could become the beginning of a war in South America,” Chavez said.
The United States and Colombia are currently holding talks which could see a boost in U.S. troop numbers at Colombian bases as part of a 10-year deal to help the country tackle its drug trafficking and terrorist problem. The U.S. would invest some $5 billion in the South American country’s economy.
Venezuela has already spent around $4 billion on Russian arms, including helicopters, fighter planes, and Kalashnikov assault rifles since 2005.
“We plan to buy several battalions of Russian tanks,” Chavez said during Wednesday’s press conference.
Colombia is the only country on the continent where a powerful guerilla group – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) – controls a large portion of territory. In the past, it controlled nearly two-thirds of Colombia, but its influence has dwindled by half. Despite its rhetoric, the organization has nothing in common with Che Guevara or Marxism, and is mainly involved in drug trafficking and kidnapping.
Relations between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela have been tense since Colombian troops attacked a FARC camp in Ecuador last year. As many as 24 guerrillas, including a senior commander of the FARC, were killed in the raid.
