by Staff Writers
Quito (AFP) Sept 15, 2009
The United States and Venezuela on Tuesday accused each other of triggering a possible arms race in South America through military deals seen as destabilizing for the region.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Washington: “We have expressed concern about the number of Venezuelan arms purchases… Certainly (they) raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region.”
But Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro shot back during a meeting with South American counterparts in Ecuador that an imminent US deal to use seven Colombian bases was the real cause for concern.
“How can the secretary of state say Venezuela is involved in an arms race when it is her country installing seven military bases?” Maduro asked.
Clinton’s words “have no political or moral basis,” he said.
The two issues dominated the meeting in Ecuador of the foreign and defense ministers of the 12 countries that make up the fledgling Union of South American Nations (Unasur).
Originally called to explore widespread concerns in South America over the US-Colombia deal, the meeting was expanded to discuss other major defense pacts, including Venezuela’s arms purchases from Russia, and Brazil’s big weapons buys from France.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced a string of recent contracts with Moscow to buy 24 advanced fighter jets, 92 battle tanks and 300 surface-to-air missiles among other weapons acquisitions. The total value of the deals is more than six billion dollars.
A fierce US critic, Chavez has said the arms are not to threaten neighboring countries but a response to threats he sees from the US “empire” wanting to invade his oil-rich nation.
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