Originally posted by Luís Henrique+October 28, 2007 10:26 am--> (Luís Henrique @ October 28, 2007 10:26 am)
[email protected] 28, 2007 01:36 am
That's what's different about Chavez. The Bolivarian military has been filled with Cuban military advisors, and revolutionaries (sic; I believe you meant "reactionary") old bourgeois generals were booted.
Yes, it would be fine if such things were happening. But to the extent that I know, only the generals directly involved in the coup were ousted. The military in general remains untouched, though Chávez is obviously bribing them by buying impressive toys.
A people's paramilitary guerilla reserve is being built
This sounds even better, and even less real.
Luís Henrique [/b]
Actually, the guerrilla reserve is quite real. My uncle is in it, my dad will be soon. They are trained in guerrilla tactics (specialized for the area in which they live) in case of an invasion by a larger power, and conventional army tactics in case of an attack by, for example, Colombia. They are trained to use all the modern weapons Venezuela has available, such as the new standard assault rifle replacing the FN FAL, the AK-103. 100,000 AK-103's have arrived from Russia, more may be ordered, and two factories, one for the AK-103's and 104's and the other for their 7.62x39 are being built in Venezuela, and will produce something like 50,000 rifles a year. The cornerstone was actually laid just yesterday! Also, seeing their effectiveness against the occupiers of Iraq, 5,000 Dragunov sniper rifles were just bought from Russia and intended for guerrilla warfare if we are invaded. The regular armed forces count with about 100,000 members (including non-combat personnel), but the reserves have almost 2 MILLION soldiers! And though there is still some corruption with some of the military's officers, most are actually loyal to the revolution and to building socialism, and that goes without saying for the common soldiers. And since pretty much all of the traitors who were not jailed or exiled following the coup tried an uprising again in 2003, they pretty much purged themselves. The new Venezuelan military has very little in common with that of 10 years ago.