[News] Venezuela Tops Latin America in Military Spending Cuts, Slashes Arms Budget by 34%

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Venezuela Tops Latin America in Military Spending Cuts, Slashes Arms
  Budget by 34%

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11343
<http://venezuelanalysis.com/printmail/11343><http://venezuelanalysis.com/print/11343> 


By Lucas Koerner

Caracas, April 16, 2015 (venezuelanalysis.com 
<http://venezuelanalysis.com>) - According to a new report by the 
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Venezuela 
reduced its military budget by 34 percent in 2014, leading the the 
region in arms spending cuts.

Venezuela is followed by Uruguay, which decreased its military spending 
by 11 percent over the past year.

In contrast, United States political allies Paraguay and Mexico led the 
region in upping military spending, raising their military budgets by 13 
and 11 percent, respectively.

Brazil, which is the largest arms spender in Latin America and the tenth 
largest in the world, cut its military budget by 1.7 percent due to 
economic difficulties.

The Americas remains the region with the highest military spending, a 
fact undoubtedly attributable to the presence of the United States, 
which, despite a modest budget cut of 6.5 percent, retains its spot as 
the world's top arms spender.

With an annual military budget of $610 billion, the US accounts for 
one-third of global spending, amounting to more than triple the budget 
of the second highest spender, China.

Nonetheless, this enormous disparity in spending has not prevented the 
US from branding Venezuela a menace to its neighbors, on numerous occasions.

In 2009, then US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton accused Venezuela of 
fomenting an "arms race" with its purchase of Russian weapons 
<http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/4799>. That same year, Venezuela led 
the region in cutting military spending 
<http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5411>, slashing its arms budget by 
one-quarter.

Last month, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order labeling 
Venezuela a "national security threat", a move which has been 
vociferously condemned by a host of countries and multilateral blocs 
across the globe.

-- 
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