Coke-Head President Hugo Chaves to Buy Billions in Weapons>

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Urges Chávez To Tightly Control Weapons


By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday called for transparency on the part of Venezuela in an arms buildup by the Hugo Chávez government that U.S. officials believe threatens regional stability. Mrs. Clinton spoke at a meeting with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, who said Latin American governments should combat poverty rather than acquire weapons.

Mrs. Clinton's comments at a joint press event with the Uruguayan leader were the highest-level expression of U.S. concern thus far about a Venezuelan arms buildup that gained momentum with an announcement this week that the South American state will buy Russian battle tanks and anti-aircraft missiles.

Chávez said in Moscow Sunday he had obtained a $2.2-billion line of credit from Russia for 90 T-72 tanks and an advanced long-range air defense system.

U.S.-Venezuelan relations since the populist Chavez was first elected in 1998 have been increasingly difficult, and he said in Moscow the new arms are to counter a U.S.-Colombian agreement last month under which U.S. forces will have access to several Colombian military bases.

Mrs. Clinton said Venezuela's arms acquisitions outpace those of all other South American countries and raise questions about a possible regional arms race.

"We urge Venezuela to be transparent [in] its purchases, clear about its purposes. They should be putting in place procedures to insure that the weapons that they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organizations, like drug trafficking gangs and other criminal cartels. So there is concern that we have expressed, and we'll continue to raise with other countries in the region. And we hope that we can see a change in behavior and attitude on the part of the Venezuelan government," Mrs. Clinton said.

For his part, President Vazquez — who has headed Uruguay's center-left government since 2004 — refrained from any direct mention of Venezuela's arms purchases.

But the Uruguayan leader, a doctor by training, lamented that Latin American governments are devoting growing resources to armaments rather than dealing with pressing social needs including health and education. He spoke through an interpreter.

"Not only is our country worried, but we have already expressed time and again our position against an arms race. We believe it is quite inconvenient for the region to devote such significant economic resources to purchasing arms. But it's a fact and we can't deny it that the countries are buying weapons. To make things worse, our region is the region that has the worst distribution of wealth. Under those conditions it is worse still to be devoting those resources to weapons," Vazquez said.

Under questioning, Mrs. Clinton said the United States is ready to work with whatever candidate wins Uruguay's presidential election in October.

Gas Prices and Oil Prices in the World

Gas Prices and Oil Prices in the World

Story by Panama Jack

Well I think it is about time the oil and gas consumers of the world have the right to choose where they purchase their gas and oil products. Just like any other product you purchase it has the country it was made or grown in or manufactured in. How about gas and oil???? We should be allowed to choose it we want to purchase these products from a terrorist country like Iran, Venezuela or Libya or a friendly country like Mexico, Norway or the United States. We The People of the World have this right. Without a choice all we are is helping Osama’s Ben Laden of the world. So Iran wants to put missiles in Venezuela what next nukes. We the people of the World can stop these skum-bag terrorist’s now by demanding they label where the oil that we use came from, like any other product and let us have a choice.

Chaves: Getting Ready To Start A War With The United States of America, What a Stupid Monkey He Is.

Venezuela Buys Powerful Missiles With Russian loan

CARACAS (Reuters)

Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over $2 billion to purchase tanks and advanced anti-aircraft missiles in deals that show Moscow's commitment to working closely with Washington-foe President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez said on Sunday the purchases agreed upon on a trip to Moscow last week included 92 tanks and an S-300 missile system that can shoot down fighter jets and cruise missiles.

Two years ago, Russia agreed to sell the same S-300 system to Iran but has dragged its feet over delivering the weapons amid U.S. and Israeli concerns they will be used to defend Iran's nuclear installations.

The socialist Chavez, who claims the United States could attack Venezuela for its oil reserves, also reiterated that Moscow was helping Venezuela develop nuclear energy but said he had no intention of developing an atomic bomb.

"Let me be clear, Venezuela has no plans to invade anybody, or to be aggressive toward anybody," Chavez said on his weekly television show after announcing the $2.2 billion loan. He did not say how much the new weapons cost.

A major oil exporter, Venezuela's finances have suffered this year because of lower crude prices. Chavez said Venezuela needed to borrow the money for defense spending to avoid cuts in education and health.

In recent years, Venezuela has bought over $4 billion in weapons from Russia including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets. Critics say Venezuela is fueling an arms race in Latin America, but Chavez says he is modernizing the military for defensive purposes.

Venezuela is embroiled in a diplomatic dispute with Colombia over a deal to allow U.S. troops into more bases in the neighboring country to help fight drug traffickers and guerrillas.

Chavez, a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy, says the Colombian bases plan could be used to launch an attack on Venezuela and increases the risk of war in South America.

Last year, he ordered tanks to the Colombian border in a dispute over a Colombian bombing raid in Ecuadorean territory.

ATOMIC POWER

Chavez, who visited Moscow last week, said Venezuela was now buying 92 Russian T-72 tanks along with several types of missiles to build an air defense system.

He mentioned the Buk-M2 and S-300 surface-to-air missile systems and the Smerch rocket launcher. The S-300, also known as the SA-20, is an extremely effective anti-aircraft system capable of tracking 100 targets at once.

It can be used with missiles with a range of about 125 miles and can engage six targets simultaneously.

"With these rockets it's going to be very difficult for foreign planes to come and bomb us," Chavez said.

It was not immediately clear when Venezuela would receive the new weapons. Continued.

Russia signed a contract in 2007 to supply Iran with the S-300 system. Last week Russia dismissed rumors that a ship supposedly loaded with timber that went missing in the Atlantic in July had really been carrying a cargo of S-300s for Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited Russia on Thursday. Although Israel has not discussed the purpose of the trip it is thought he was discussing the S-300.

Chavez repeated on Sunday his commitment to developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes with the help of Russia and said he was opposed to nuclear weapons.

"With Russia we have created an atomic energy commission and I tell the world -- Venezuela is going to start developing nuclear energy, but we are not going to make an atomic bomb."

Russia agreed last year to help restart Venezuela's nuclear program. Venezuela has one mothballed experimental nuclear reactor built decades ago. Experts say it will take many years for the South American country to produce atomic energy.

Last week, New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said he suspected Venezuela was helping Iran's nuclear program through its banking system.

Chavez, an ally of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, often jokes that Washington thinks Iranian built dairies and bicycle factories in Venezuela are really producing weapons.

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel and Patricia Rondon, editing by Philip Barbara and Todd Eastham)

Sept. 11 Has Another Meaning In Most of Latin America

Sept. 11 Has Another Meaning In Most of Latin America

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Your article this morning, more an editorial than an article, on "September 11 [being] just another day at the office" displays an appalling degree of Gringo chauvinism. It is almost certainly forgotten by your writer, but is well remembered throughout Latin America that the date also marks an anniversary that is quite important to Latin Americans, and all but forgotten by the Gringos — the date in 1973 when the United States overthrew a democratically elected, representative government in Chile and installed a brutal right-wing authoritarian dictatorship friendly to its interests that ultimately killed more people in that country than were killed in Manhattan a quarter century later, subjected 10 times that number to excruciating torture and caused nearly a quarter million to flee into exile, and traumatized a continent. And, of course, Chile isn't the only Latin American country where this has occurred.

Because it happened to them, this is the anniversary that is ultimately far more important to Latin Americans than is the one of which you are complaining that is going unobserved. Demanding that Latins observe your trauma while completely ignoring theirs is appallingly insensitive and demonstrative of the kind of nationalist chauvinism for which the Gringos have become so well known and often disliked.

If your writer would set aside his Gringo nationalism for a moment and reflect on the history of the region in which he lives and the frequently sordid involvement of the United States in it, he would not only not offend Latin American sensitivities with such articles, but might benefit from it with a sense of perspective.

Scott Bidstrup
Cartago

Don't Try To Bribe Cop If You Go To Chile

Don't Try To Bribe Cop If You Go To Chile

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Americans, of the northern type, may assume that the current evidence of widespread police corruption in Cost Rica is endemic to Latin American cultures. I had the privilege of visiting Chile a few years ago and learned that Chileans take great pride in the honesty and integrity of their police force. The offering of a bribe to a police officer would be very unwise.

I experienced a sense of safety and security in Chile I never found in Costa Rica. Perhaps the fact I was never robbed in Chile, unlike Costa Rica, helped foster this sense of well being.

J. Sam Mobley
Indianapolis, Indiana