Monday, February 26, 2007
Venezuela Spending on Arms Rises to the Top of the List
Venezuela has now taken the lead of Latin American countries in weapons purchasing and even spends more than Iran and Pakistan, spending $4 billion in the past two years. Venezuela officials claim they are building up their weapons before the US puts on a ban on the sale of American arms to the country and just in case the US mounts some sort of military aggression towards them. I'm sure this has President Bush shaking in his boots. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/world/americas/25venez.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.
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From the Venezuela Information Office in Washington, in response to this article:
Another article from the New York Times ("Venezuela Spending on Arms Soars to World's Top Ranks") strikes a particularly alarmist note about a "Venezuelan military build-up". Several statements in this article require careful analysis, including:
* The reporter states that Venezuela's military spending was "up 12.5 percent in 2006." That figure is almost exactly equal to last year's 12% increase in GDP. Therefore as a percentage of the overall economy, Venezuela's military budget has not increased much at all.
* The reporter makes the inflammatory statement that Venezuela's spending puts it "ahead of other major purchasers in international arms markets like Pakistan and Iran." When a more relevant comparison is made of the Venezuelan military budget to that of other Latin American countries (as a percent of GDP) the Venezuelan spending on military equipment remains lower than Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil and Peru. In 2004 the US spent 3.98% of its GDP on its military, U.S.-ally Columbia spent 4.34% of its GDP on its military, while Venezuela spent 1.17% of its GDP on military expenditures. In 2004-2005 Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Columbia and Argentina all spent more on their military budgets then did Venezuela.
* The articles fail to mention that much of Venezuela's military equipment is used in the fight against narcotics trade activities.
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