US: Venezuela Purchases Four Times More Weapons Than It Needs
The two senior US intelligence chiefs Wednesday said Venezuela has purchased up to four times the number of weapons it needs for domestic defense, with a goal to destabilize countries in the region that are close to the United States, such as Colombia.

J. Michael McDonnell, US National Security Director, and lieutenant general Michael D. Maples, the Director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), make their comments about Venezuela's buildup of arms during a hearing at the US Senate Armed Services Committee, AP reported.

McDonnell said Venezuela was now making efforts to purchase submarines and antiaircraft defense missiles. He added that Venezuela's purchases of Russian weapons -estimated at USD 3 billion- exceeded by far the sales and maintenance agreements Venezuela has initialed with Iran. According to McDonnell, Caracas is also seeking cooperation with Iran in the nuclear field.

When asked by lawmaker Mel MartÃ*nez (R-Fl) what number of weapons had President Hugo Chávez purchased from Russia and Iran, McDonnell, whose subordinate agencies include the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), replied "probably three or four times more than it needs."

MartÃ*nez asked whether Chávez's goal was "to destabilize governments in countries that are US allies in the region, including Colombia, and to help the (rebel) Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, and McDonnell answered: "It could be quite the goal."

However, regarding this question, Maples stressed, "We have not noticed such distribution, but we have held talks about the use Venezuela can make of this kind of asymmetry in tactic capabilities," among South American nations. He added that "somehow" Venezuela is upgrading the civilians' defense power.

When MartÃ*nez asked whether it meant that Chávez was training militias to defend his government, McDonnell replied, "Yes, within his country."

When MartÃ*nez asked McDonnell for his opinion about Chávez's move to urge the international community to remove the FARC from the list of "terrorist organizations," the US National Security Director replied, "It was a big mistake. He did it to gain a political advantage, but no one has accepted that."