Fortuitously they are arriving just as the opposition is picking up seats in the elections. An odd coincidence that these scheduled “exercises” coincide with elections Chavez was nervous about.
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russian warships will soon reach his country’s Caribbean coast for joint naval exercises.
Chavez said the Russian ships “will enter Venezuelan waters within a matter of hours.” He didn’t say exactly when the ships are to arrive.
It’s the first such deployment by the Russian navy in the Caribbean since the Cold War. Russia is sending the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, and logistical vessels including a tugboat and a supply ship.
The Russian navy said the two warships will visit the Venezuelan port of La Guaira starting Tuesday, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. It said the ships are scheduled to hold joint exercises with Venezuela’s navy starting Dec. 1.
Chavez is also expecting a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev starting Wednesday as part of a Latin American tour.
Chavez has been boosting ties with Russia while tensions with the U.S. have grown, and he has bought more than $4 billion in Russian weapons.
Firearms Blog just showcased the waiting to be approved for export RPG-30 the Russians just developed which is designed to defeat modern (read American) tanks. Chavez may be using what’s left of his petrol-dollars to grab some of these up, and just because the Russians claim the weapon isn’t yet being exported doesn’t mean one of those warships won’t be carrying a few dozen that may be given to Chavez. Chavez may in turn send them to F.A.R.C. who may pass them along to their cartel connections. This endangers us all.
Gateway Pundit has more on the elections, in which the opposition has made some significant gains. The cities seem to be a stronghold of anti-Chavez forces, while the rural areas are loyal to Chavez. This sort of polarization, along with Russian interference, doesn’t not bode well of Latin American stability.
I have also received report that before the elections, Chavez threaten to send in tanks toward the areas where his opposition gained holdings if they won the positions. But later he backpeddled those rantings.
I have also on my blog how eeriely similar that Chavez’s supporters’ childrens are to those Obama children who sang for the “Great Leader”. See my blog for details on that.