F-16s for Caracas
Ellner, Steve
Report from Venezuela F-16s FOR CARACAS TRIGGERING A LATIN ARMS RACE Latin AMERICA has traditionally been spared the heightened competition for modern weapon systems which afflicts other regions...
...Castro denies that Cuba maintains a military presence in Guyana and points to outstanding political differences which separate the two governments...
...No nation would benefit from a regional arms race triggered by the F-16 sales, but the big loser would be Venezuela...
...And why did the Armed Forces choose the $ 14.5 million F-16 bomber over the more economical French Mirage which many top officers preferred...
...Now President Reagan's policy on arms sales threatens to reverse it completely...
...The sale to Venezuela of F-16 fighter-bombers - the most advanced of their kind in the U.S...
...Why has the government decided to acquire as many as twenty-four F-16s...
...policy against the introduction of sophisticated weaponry to Latin America...
...From the Venezuelan standpoint, the reasons are much less clear...
...In spite of twenty-three years of democracy and relative stability, military policy is treated with kid gloves by politicians of all persuasions in Venezuela...
...Venezuela, unlike Israel, enjoys the hemispheric protective umbrella of the United States and thus does not require ultra-modern military equipment...
...arsenal of exports - under the guise of countering Castro-Communist expansionism, may well signal the beginning of a Latin American arms race of major proportions...
...However, for this moral support to translate itself into military support, Cuba would have to establish a military base in or near the contested area...
...Report from Venezuela F-16s FOR CARACAS TRIGGERING A LATIN ARMS RACE Latin AMERICA has traditionally been spared the heightened competition for modern weapon systems which afflicts other regions of the world...
...It is possible that the Venezuelan military is more preoccupied with Venezuela's dispute with Colombia over jurisdiction in the allegedly oil-rich Gulf of Venezuela...
...Those Venezuelans who take the Cuban threat seriously point to Cuba's backing of Guyana in the long-simmering territorial dispute over the region known as the Esequibo...
...Venezuela maintains a rough military parity with its more populous neighbor, although such a calculation is based on a number of intangible factors...
...Venezuela has attempted to cultivate the image of a "responsible third-world nation" and has been generous with its oil money in order to enhance OPEC's and its own reputation in that part of the world...
...The sale of F-16s to Venezuela will reverse a long-standing U.S...
...Under-Secretary of State James Buckley, when asked by members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations why Venezuela needed such powerful weapons, bluntly responded "something called Cuba...
...If a balance of power is being maintained, it would certainly be upset by Venezuela's purchase of the F-16s...
...The major opposition party has not taken an official position on the F-16 purchase...
...Are the key features of the F-16 - specifically its much boasted versatility - in line with Venezuela's military needs...
...In Venezuela, not even the leftists question the military's need to renovate its equipment periodically, and such a changeover is presently overdue...
...The prevalence of military dictatorships coupled with the aggressive role played by European and Israeli arms dealers over the last decade has somewhat modified this situation...
...It is especially ill-advised in the case of Latin America...
...Indeed, ex-presidential candidate Americo Martin, a moderate socialist, told this author that the F-16s may be necessary as a counterpoise to Brazilian expansion...
...If such an unlikely situation occurred, the relative strength of Venezuelan air power would be a virtually insignificant factor...
...Unlike in the guerrilla war-torn 1960s, the leftists recognize the importance of maintaining a modern efficient armed force in order to defend the nation's oil wealth...
...STEVE ELLNER (Steve Ellner, a previous contributor, teaches at the Uni-versidad de Oriente, Venezuela...
...The parties of the opposition have called on the government to provide them with the necessary technical military information in order for them to do so...
...Up until now, F-16s have been sold to nations in high-tension areas, specifically to Israel and various NATO countries...
...More important, the establishment of a Cuban military base in Guyana would be clearly unacceptable to other nations in the hemisphere - Brazil and the United States to name two - and would thus internationalize the conflict...
...In private, many leaders have posed weighty questions concerning the purchase...
...Indeed, the Colombian Ministry of Defense has expressed concern regarding the proposed acquisition (the government of Guyana has denounced it in even sharper terms) and has announced its intentions to seek sophisticated military aircraft of its own...
...The Reagan administration's policy of rewarding friendly nations by selling them advanced hardware is full of pitfalls...
...The most important of these is Venezuela's vulnerability due to the location of its oil reserves in the Lake Maracaibo region near the Colombian border...
...The only politicians with access to classified military knowledge are those of the two main establishment parties which have exclusive voting representation on the Senate's Defense Committee...
...If the United States is as serious about helping out its friends, it should refrain from pushing them into an arms race, which, as history tells us time and again, no country really ever wins...
...This effort will be in vain should it appear that Venezuela is parlaying petrodollars into military might to be flexed against neighboring countries...
...Will the Venezuelan Air Force be able to assimilate all the necessary technology...
...The type of technical information necessary to answer this kind of question has always been jealously guarded by the Venezuelan military...
Vol. 109 • March 1982 • No. 6
