Categories
Quick Analysis

Venezuela: Tragedy and Danger, Part 2

U.S. State Department map

 

As western nations react to the dictatorship and poverty resulting from the leadership first of Chavez and then Maduro, the Venezuelan dictatorship has turned to Iran, Russia and China.

Alexander Martinez, in a Center for Security Policy/London Center for Policy Center report  “Politico uncovered a story with serious and far-reaching implications. The Obama Administration undermined and blocked a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) program in its eagerness to secure a nuclear deal with Iran…cocaine trafficking originated… specifically through Venezuela and Mexico…The story reported by Politico …follows a larger trend that has serious security implications for the entire Western Hemisphere. ‘Iran has had a presence in Latin America for decades. … its role in the region expanded and intensified after Hugo Chavez took the reins of the Venezuelan state in 1999. Chavez based his rule on a revolutionary transnational agenda that included a quasi-socialist authoritarian revolution at home, and an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy aimed at spreading his revolution throughout the region…. Chavez began to funnel money to candidates in different countries in the region who held views akin to his ideology and proceeded to establish alliances with regional guerilla movements to organize subversion across Latin America… Chavez saw groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as a necessary force that could create subversion abroad and expand his so-called ‘Bolivarian Revolution.’ Likewise, they strengthened relations with the Shining Path guerrilla Maoist movement in Peru and other subversive groups in the region. They also trainedmembers of the Paraguayan Popular Army (EPP) … the alliance between Venezuela and Iran has strong foundations. They both are anti-American and seek to reduce U.S. power in their respective regions and, if possible, in the world. Chavez defined the Islamic and the Bolivarian revolutions as ‘sister revolutions.’ Venezuela needed Iran’s subversive capabilities and its ‘valuable’ experience in building a totalitarian-revolutionary regime…Hezbollah and Iran’s IslamicRevolutionary GuardsCorps (IRGC) have also established a presence in the region, training ‘soldiers of the revolution’ in Venezuelan camps…For its part, Iran needed Venezuela to expand its presence in Latin America… It also sought a strategic position in the region to increase deterring capabilities against the U.S.”

In an el-Nacional newspaper article first reported by Fox News, Vladimir Medrano Regifo, former director general of the Office of Identification, Migration and Immigration of Venezuela, revealed that the Venezuelan government may have distributed about 10,000 passports to Syrians, Iranians, and nationals of other Middle Eastern nations. “Nowadays, they do not know where these people are or what they are doing. They can be anywhere in the world, traveling with Venezuelan documentation… Around 173 individuals from the Middle East have been detected with Venezuelan passports. Likewise, the majority of Iraqis who tried to enter Canada first arrived in Caracas, detailed a study by the Center for a Free and Secure Society (SFS) of 2014.”

You can order valsonindia.com viagra no prescription india to your desired viagra from online Pharmacies located offshore — most of the time people had to dedicate a whole Saturday at a local junior college. If you have been soft cialis diagnosed for any disease, you must find a reliable Thyroid doctor in Kolkata for fast recovery. This is all thanks to what I call Yes’s ‘maximum glideability.” Trudy Hannington – Psychosexual and relationship therapist, The Leger Clinic, Doncaster Of all the lubricants I have been living abroad for almost a year now, and sometimes I still feel awkward to interact with different people, with different sale viagra cultures, particularly getting along with the locals. It is tadalafil cheapest online that serves customers from any nation and country worldwide. Antonio Mora, writing for The Hill  reports that Russia has aninsidious, increasing influence in Venezuela… Chavez turned to Russia for investment in the country’s energy and mining sectors and as a supplier of weaponry, with Venezuela becoming a major purchaser of Russian military hardware, including fighter jets.

The U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission reports that Venezuela maintains strong ties to the Chinese military “through a high number of official visits, military officer exchanges, port calls, and limited arms sales.”  Venezuela has purchased Chinese arms and military equipment, including radar and aircraft.

A Council of the America’s study  found that “Running a cash-strapped country didn’t stop Maduro from announcing his plans to “modernize” the Venezuelan Armed Forces with new military equipment, marking another aspect of Venezuela’s relationship with China and Russia.

That Venezuela turns to China and Russia for military equipment is partly out of necessity. In 2005, while trying to upgrade an aging F-16 fleet, the United States blocked Israel from selling replacement parts to Venezuela. So Venezuela turned to Russia, from which it bought 24 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, along with 53 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles, over the next two years.

In his annual state of the union address in 2011, Chávez said that Venezuela had doubled its military capacities in one year, thanks to equipment from Russia and China.”

The Report Concludes Monday.