US questions Venezuela weapons acquisition
By Raymond Colitt in Brasília
Published: March 24 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 24 2005 02:00


The US has stepped up its pressure against Venezuela's weapons procurement programme and is looking to work with Brazil more effectively to combat drug-trafficking and terrorism in the region.

Comments by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, during a visit to Brazil yesterday are the strongest indicator yet of growing concern in Washington about recent evidence that President Hugo Chávez's leftwing government in Venezuela was acquiring large quantities of firearms from Russia.

"I can't imagine why Venezuela needs 100,000 AK-47s, I can't imagine what is going to happen to 100,000 AK-47s," Mr Rumsfeld said at a press conference before meeting Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president. "I personally hope the [delivery] doesn't happen ... if it did, it wouldn't be good for the hemisphere."

Earlier this month US officials said they feared the weapons could end up in the hands of leftwing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). Some Chávez critics even speculated they could end up with leftwing groups in Bolivia and elsewhere in the region.

Increasingly frustrated with Mr Chávez's fiery anti-US rhetoric and suspect relations with "destabilising forces" in the region, Washington is turning to Brazil as a moderator.

"We wish Chávez would listen more to Lula," said a top-level aide accompanying Mr Rumsfeld on a tour of South America.

"Our two countries are looking at ways to work together more closely to confront the anti-social threats from organised crime, gangs, drug-traffickers, hostage-takers and terrorists," Mr Rumsfeld added.

Mr Lula da Silva, who has a cordial relationship with Mr Chávez, is to participate in asummit between the Colombian and Venezuelan heads of state and José Luiz Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, next Tuesday.

In an apparent approval of Brazil's growing role in dealing with hotspots in the region, the US defence secretary praised Brazil's peace-keeping efforts in Haiti. "We are very grateful to Brazil. It is a welcome contribution to stability in our hemisphere," Mr Rumsfeld said.

Mr Rumsfeld's trip to Brazil, which included a visit to the satellite-based Amazon surveillance system in Manaus, is part of a growing perception in Washington that the left-leaning Lula da Silva administration is more of a solution than a problem to pockets of instability in the region.

"Brazil's role in the region is well seen in Washington. Dealing with Venezuela and pursuing regional leadership is in our and their interest," said Rubens Barbosa, former Brazilian ambassador to the US.

Previous US concerns, such as Brazil's uranium enrichment programme, appear to have been put on the backburner. Instead Mr Rumsfeld praised Brazil for "leadership in the area of science and technology".


Fuente: Financial Times


Volver a la página principal de 11abril.com