Clinton Urges Transparency In Venezuelan Arms Purchases

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday called for transparency onthe part of Venezuela in an arms buildup by the Hugo Chavez governmentthat U.S. officials believe threatens regional stability. Clinton spokeat a meeting with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, who said LatinAmerican governments should combat poverty rather than acquire weapons.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) and Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez at the State Department in Washington, 15 Sep 2009Clinton's comments at a joint press event with the Uruguayan leaderwere the highest-level expression of U.S. concern thus far about aVenezuelan arms buildup that gained momentum with an announcement thisweek that the South American state will buy Russian battle tanks andanti-aircraft missiles.

Venezuelan President Chavez said inMoscow Sunday he had obtained a $2.2-billion line ofcredit from Russia for 90 T-72 tanks and an advanced long-range airdefense system.

U.S.-Venezuelan relations since the populist Mr.Chavez was first elected in 1998 have been increasingly difficult, andhe said in Moscow the new arms are to counter a U.S.-Colombianagreement last month under which U.S. forces will have access toseveral Colombian military bases.

Clinton said Venezuela's armsacquisitions outpace those of all other South American countries andraise questions about a possible regional arms race.

"Weurge Venezuela to be transparent its purchases, clear about itspurposes. They should be putting in place procedures to insure that theweapons that they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegalorganizations, like drug trafficking gangs and other criminal cartels.So there is concern that we have expressed, and we'll continue to raisewith other countries in the region. And we hope that we can see achange in behavior and attitude on the part of the Venezuelangovernment," Clinton said.

Forhis part, President Vazquez - who has headed Uruguay's center-leftgovernment since 2004 - refrained from any direct mention ofVenezuela's arms purchases.

But the Uruguayan leader, a doctorby training, lamented that Latin American governments are devotinggrowing resources to armaments rather than dealing with pressing socialneeds including health and education. He spoke through aninterpreter.

"Notonly is our country worried, but we have already expressed time andagain our position against an arms race. We believe it is quiteinconvenient for the region to devote such significant economicresources to purchasing arms. But it's a fact and we can't deny it thatthe countries are buying weapons. To make things worse, our region isthe region that has the worst distribution of wealth. Under thoseconditions it is worse still to be devoting those resources to weapons," Mr. Vazquez said.

Underquestioning, Clinton said the United States is ready to work withwhatever candidate wins Uruguay's presidential election in October.

Shesaid the good relationship the United States has had with Mr. Vazquez'left-leaning government underscores the Obama administration'scommitment to deal productively with Latin American leaders from acrossthe political spectrum.