Additional dialog, some new spin.Equipment ranging from 50 latest-generation Mig-29 warplanes to dozens of helicopter gunships, 100,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles and a fleet of naval vessels, have all been reported as imminent deliveries to Venezuela's new arsenal.
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“We are wondering just what the intent here is,” Gen Craddock said in an interview. “If it is for sovereign defence, obviously each nation can do their own, and as well they should in terms of protecting their sovereignty and their national boundaries.”
No clue there, eh?---
Some US officials are more concerned by what they see as the lack of financial transparency in the negotiation of the arms deals than by the bellicose capability of the arms themselves. Price tags ranging up to $5bn (€3.7bn, £2.6bn) have been reported as the total cost of Mr Chávez's oil-financed defence spending spree, yet none of the purchases has yet been debated in Venezuela's legislature.
“It's an orgy of corruption,” said Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs at the US Department of Defense.
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