Venezuela to Buy Russian Military Planes

Caracas, Venezuela, May 26, 2006—Wednesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reiterated an earlier announcement that Venezuela will buy fighter planes from Russia in light of U.S. military sanctions.

Last week, the U.S. announced weapons sanctions on Venezuela for lack of cooperation in the war against terrorism. The Chavez government and some analysts criticized the move as political, rather than because of uncooperative actions on Venezuela’s part. The policy, however, seemed redundant, as the US had already put “Foreign Military Sales” sanctions on Venezuela in September of last year because of failure to fight trafficking in persons.

“We can't maintain [our F16s] anymore. Why? Because the parts are American," said Chavez at a press conference in Miraflores. "Now what am I going to do? Buy some Antonovs from Russia modern transport planes." Venezuela earlier also expressed interested in Russia’s Su-30 fighter jets.

Russia confirmed that it would be willing to sell the planes to Venezuela. “There are no legal restrictions on arms exports to Venezuela. I mean of course conventional weapons," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists in St. Petersburg. "Venezuela is not on any sanctions or restricted regime list and has the right to buy any unrestricted weaponry in any country."

However, U.S. State Department spokesperson Scott McCormack said that F16 maintence parts would not be affected by the sanctions. “Previously authorized licenses for spare parts, maintenance, that sort of thing are not affected by Venezuela having been put on this list,” he said, noting the contracts were normally good for four years, and Venezuela’s had been signed in 2005.

However, in recent months, Venezuela has said it has been unable to buy replacement parts for its F16s. According to Venezuelan official last November, while the country had been able to obtain replacement parts for the F16s flight systems, the US had not sent the country parts for the weapons systems. At the time, U.S. officials said they were sending the parts according to their contract with Venezuela.

The U.S., which is able to veto all sales of military equipment containing U.S. parts, also recently blocked a Spanish sale of 12 unarmed military aircraft and 4 patrol boats as well as a Brazilian sale of boats to the South American country. Today, Venezuela and Spain finalized the agreement on the boats, apparently replacing the U.S. components with European technology. The plane portion of the deal is still pending, and the Brazilian agreement appears to have died. The Russian sale appears to be different, in that the primary use of the weapons is not transport or surveillance.

U.S. officials had justified the vetos calling Venezuela a “destabilizing force in the region” and warning that it could start a local arms race. Venezuelan officials have countered that inability to buy surveillance equipment will hinder the country in its efforts to combat drugs, and now terrorism. Also, Venezuela's military expenditures are about half that of its neighbor Colombia, both in absolute numbers and relative to the size of its economy.

Venezuela Reaches Protocol Agreement With Mercosur

Caracas, Venezuela, May 25, 2006—Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced that Venezuela has agreed to a protocol that outlines how the country will become a full member of the trade bloc Mercosur.

“Last night, the protocol of Venezuela’s incorporation into Mercosur… [was] approved in Buenos Aires. This is historic,” said Chávez at a press conference in the presidential palace Miraflores. “Venezuela’s integration is a fundamental step towards which we have worked with dedication and passion for seven and a half years.”

Last December, the South American nation was put on track for being a voting member, but the countries that comprise Mercosur, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, had not agreed on terms until Tuesday. In July, Mercosur’s presidents are expected to ratify the document.

The agreement has still not been released in its entirety, according to the Ministry of Communication, but reports say Venezuela must adopt common external tariffs in four years, and will continue integrating economically into the blocks for several years after.

Recently, Chávez stirred up controversy by withdrawing from the Community of Andean Nations (CAN) and a trade group consisting of Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia, known as G-3. At the press conference, he reiterated that the CAN’s “death” was caused not by his country’s sudden withdrawal, but by Free Trade Agreements between Peru and Colombia and the United States. The G-3, he said, only benefited Mexico, and had never helped Venezuela or Colombia.

But Chávez contends that Mercosur is a different type of agreement. “Mercosur doesn’t ask any country to modify anything,” he said, referring to conditions normally put on Free Trade Agreements with the United States.

He also spoke of Mercosur as a wall, rather than, as is typical with trade agreements, the breakdown of barriers. “Now we’re protected by the Mercosur wall from the invasion of products from the United States to Colombia,” he said.

Indeed, a quote from the partial release of the protocol says, “The process of negotiation considered at all times that integration needs to be an instrument to promote integral development, confront poverty and social exclusion and bested in contemplation, solidarity and cooperation.”

As of yet, it is unclear which Venezuelan industries will be protected in Mercosur, and which will see trade barriers removed between other countries. The government has repeatedly promised to protect many industries, including agriculture.

Chávez sees Venezuela’s integration in the group as critical to its success. “No country is better situated than Venezuela, from a geographic, geopolitical, or economic point of view, because of the resources it has, and [its social factors]. [Its] people have woken up, and now are building a full and open democracy, in order to contribute, as if it were machinery, to the union of nations which form Mercosur and help speed up the integration of all South America in a block that we need,” said Chavez.

Chávez added that the block was “necessary to convert South American into a power.” The Venezuelan president has maintained during his presidency that in order to combat the hegemony of the United States, a world with multiple power points is necessary, including another one in the Americas. At the conference, he circled the US and Canada on a map, and said they would always be a power.

Several trade disputes in recent years have led some analysts to question the effectiveness of the group, despite a steep jump in trade between the Mercosur countries.

Supreme Court Judge Suspended for Mismanagement of Funds

Caracas, Venezuela, May 25, 2006—A Venezuelan Supreme Court Judge, Luis Velásquez Alvaray, was suspended yesterday for allegedly mismanaging funds while heading the Executive Directorate of the country’s judicial system (DEM).

The announcement was made by representatives of Venezuela’s fourth branch of government, known as the Moral Republican Council, which consists of Comptroller General Clodovaldo Russián, Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez, and Human rights Ombudsman Germán Mundaraín.

Velásquez’s alleged mismanagement of funds stems from negotiations between the DEM, represented by Velásquez, and a private company, AZ2000, regarding the “Lebrún Judicial City” a 45,000 square foot, 4-story project where a variety of civil courts were to function for the state of Miranda. Last year, the price of the project was dropped from $25 million to $7 million. The difference, the DEM decided, would go toward the renovation of the property and the purchase of goods and services. However, this decision was made without an open bidding process, as required by law, and the contract was given directly to AZ2000.

The Venezuelan daily, El Universal, reported yesterday that the Attorney General explained that in making their decision, they took in to account “the overprice [of the property] and the violation of the law of bidding,’ legislation which had not been respected when the price of the land was reduced to $7 million, from the initial established price of $25 million, utilizing the difference for the purchase of goods, services and renovations that were susceptible to legal provisions, although the property had been excepted from them.”

Comptroller General Russián assured that they will do what is necessary to insure that the state doesn’t lose “one half cent,” and added that, “We are working so that a good part of the funds can be recuperated.”

Russián declared that the case will now be passed on to the Attorney General’s Office and the National Assembly to determine if the judge is responsible for further civil, administrative, and criminal infractions, and if there were any others at fault.

Under the Supreme Court law, the National Assembly must decide whether the judge’s suspension is turned into a dismissal.

"Once the offense has been identified, and the proceedings of the Moral Republican Council have been received, the President of the National Assembly shall convoke a plenary session within 10 working days to hear the party concerned and resolve on removal," declared National Assembly President Nicolás Maduro, citing Article 12 of the Supreme Court Law.

Maduro further declared that the Moral Republican Council carried out the law in a “strict and impeccable” way, and that they will have a final report on their decision ready in three days. 

“We are going to continue to strictly follow the law in order to give judge Velásquez Alvaray his right to defense and to listen to his arguments,” Maduro continued.

El Universal reported that due to his status as a judge, Velásquez does have the benefit of a pre-trial before any criminal indictment. However, if and when he is officially dismissed by the National Assembly he would be tried as a regular citizen.

Velásquez first came under suspicion in March the Minister of Interior and Justice, Jesse Chacón, declared at the time, “As a consequence of all of these facts we have sent the complete information on to the Anti-corruption Commission of the Moral Republican Council, so that they carry out an exhaustive investigation and declare if there exists a violation of the Venezuelan laws or not.”

Velásquez has vocally denied the charges and says that they are politically motivated and are being orchestrated by Vice-President José Vicente Rangel, Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon, and National Assembly President Nicolas Maduro because he refuses to their bidding. He went on to accuse Rangel of urging him to release a drug trafficker, which he refused to do, and said that this group was part of a current that believes in “Chavismo without Chavez.”

Ironically, during his tenure on the court and as head of the court system’s Executive Directorate, Velásquez fired dozens of Venezuelan judges for corruption. He resigned from his post on the Executive Directorate on March 6 of this year.