Cuba-Venezuela Ties Deepen with Military Training

June 1, 2010 04:13


It’s no longer just doctors, nurses and teachers. Cuba now sends Venezuela troops to train its military, and computer experts to work on its passport and identification-card systems.

By Ian James AP via CNSNews.com


Critics fear that what is portrayed by both countries as a friendship committed to countering U.S. influence in the region is in fact growing into far more. They see a seasoned authoritarian government helping President Hugo Chavez to protect his power through Cuban-style controls, in exchange for oil. The Cuban government routinely spies on dissidents and maintains tight controls on information and travel.

Cubans are involved in Venezuelan defense and communications systems to the point that they would know how to run both in a crisis, said Antonio Rivero, a former brigadier general whose break with Chavez over the issue has grabbed national attention.

“They’ve crossed a line,” Rivero said in a May interview. “They’ve gone beyond what should be permitted and what an alliance should be.”

Cuban officials dismiss claims of outsized influence, saying their focus is social programs. Chavez recently scolded a Venezuelan reporter on live television for asking what the Cubans are doing in the military.

“Cuba helps us modestly with some things that I’m not going to detail,” Chavez said. “Everything Cuba does for Venezuela is to strengthen the homeland, which belongs to them as well.”

But the communist government has a strong interest in securing the status quo because Venezuela is the island’s principal economic benefactor, Rivero says.

As Cuba struggles with economic troubles, including shortages of food and other basics, $7 billion in annual trade with Venezuela has provided a key boost – especially more than 100,000 barrels of oil Chavez’s government sends each day in exchange for services.

FULL STORY



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