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<h1 class="title">Venezuela Tops Latin America in Military Spending
Cuts, Slashes Arms Budget by 34%</h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Lucas Koerner</span> </p>
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<p dir="ltr">Caracas, April 16, 2015 (<a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com" target="_blank">venezuelanalysis.com</a>)
- 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.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Venezuela is followed by Uruguay, which decreased its
military spending by 11 percent over the past year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">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.</p>
<p dir="ltr">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.</p>
<p dir="ltr">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.</p>
<p dir="ltr">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.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Nonetheless, this enormous disparity in spending has
not prevented the US from branding Venezuela a menace to its
neighbors, on numerous occasions.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In 2009, then US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
accused Venezuela of <a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/4799">fomenting an "arms
race" with its purchase of Russian weapons</a>. That same year,
Venezuela <a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5411">led the
region in cutting military spending</a>, slashing its arms
budget by one-quarter.</p>
<p dir="ltr">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.</p>
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