Latin American arms race looms

Space War ^ | 7/29/2009 | London UPI

[sonofstrangelove]

An intensifying arms race looms over Latin America because of copycat weapons buying triggered by recent military buildups in some countries and reactions of their neighbors, defense analysts said Wednesday. Heavy arms shopping by Venezuela, even before the war of words erupted over the June 28 Honduras coup and U.S. military facilities in Colombia, has followed bickering over cross-border arms trade, including Chilean military exports to Ecuador and other neighbors.

As rearmament gathers pace, the continent's own defense industry has seen its markets challenged by overseas suppliers, especially China and Russia. Latin arms suppliers include Brazil's Embraer and Chile's Enaer.

Argentina's Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina S.A., a full-service regional aircraft maintenance and modification center, has attracted Latin military and commercial customers from outside the country.

But the most dramatic entry of outside interests has been the wide-ranging partnership between Russia and Venezuela. A Russian delegation was in Caracas to sign new agreements to add to military hardware sales reported earlier. Analysts said Venezuelan purchases of Russian aircraft, helicopters and tanks and other weaponry could cost $2.6 billion.

Venezuela says its armament is a response to what it calls the joint U.S.-Colombian plans for regional domination.

Gian Carlo Di Martino, leader of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, went a step further, saying, "there is shaping a dangerous triangle between Colombia, the United States and Israel, so as to destabilize the region."

"These military alliances, far from improving the relations between the neighbor countries, what those get to do is to create a climate of tension," he said in a speech in Zulia, near the Colombian border, quoted by the Venezuelan news agency ABN.

[Yo-Yo]

The Latin American arms race has come to a screeching halt with plunging oil prices.