U.S. Closes Venezuelan Military Acquisitions Office in Miami

In a move seen as hostile from Caracas, the U.S. government yesterday demanded that Venezuela’s armed forces close their military acquisitions office in Miami. They have been given until the 30th of this month to carry out the request.
sean_mccormack

Caracas, Venezuela, September 9, 2006—In a move seen as hostile from Caracas, the U.S. government yesterday demanded that Venezuela’s armed forces close their military acquisitions office in Miami.  They have been given until the 30th of this month to carry out the request.

For Washington, the closure is a logical step after they issued an arms embargo against Venezuela last May for its alleged lack of co-operation in the “War On Terror.”

“Due to the determination to end the sale or to issue arms export licences for defence equipment to Venezuela, it is no longer necessary nor appropriate for the Venezuelan government to maintain an office of military acquisitions in the United States,” said a spokesperson for the Department of State.

The Venezuelan liaison office at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio will also close this month.  Sean McCormack from the State Department said that this was also a, “practical outcome of where we are policy-wise with Venezuela on the sale of defence articles.”

The Venezuelan Ministry for Foreign Affairs rejected the order and responded by saying that, “The decision taken by the government of the United States is part of the continued aggressive politics directed by North American imperialism towards Venezuela.

The U.S. has pressured other governments in an attempt to prevent Venezuela buying arms from elsewhere.  In January they were successful in preventing Spain from selling the Chávez government 10 cargo planes and a similar deal was prevented between Venezuela and Brazil.  This was due to the fact that the equipment contained many U.S. manufactured components.

However, this was not completely successful as Venezuela managed to purchase 22 fighter jets and a similar number of helicopters from the Russian government.  They are even opening a Russian rifle manufacturing plant on Venezuelan territory.

But the embargo may affect current replacement parts for U.S. manufactured equipment already in service in Venezuela.  They already have Bronco planes, Hercules cargo planes, Dragoon tanks and assault ships, among other equipment.  This may force them to replace the US hardware for weaponry from more friendly nations.

Asked whether the personnel employed in the offices would be forced to leave the United States, McCormack said that they would be able to apply to, “reassign to Venezuela’s embassy in Washington or its consulates in the U.S.”

Venezuela had signed many contracts before this current disagreement and they are demanding that these outstanding orders for supplies be fulfilled, “We demand that that government allows the flow of supplies and articles of defence, already paid by us before August 17, 2006 or, if not, we demand a refund.”

Regarding its supposed lack of co-operation with respect to terrorists, the Venezuelan government claimed that, on the contrary, it was the U.S. government that was guilty of a lack of co-operation.  A spokesperson said that the U.S. “guarantees and protects the known international terrorist Luís Posada Carriles, which provides evidence of the double morality it practices.”

Posada Carriles is wanted by Venezuela and Cuba in connection with blowing up a Cuban Airlines passenger plane in 1976 killing 73 civilians .  He is currently in the U.S. where he is being held for illegal entry.  So far, the US has refused to extradite him to Venezuela.