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Poor LatAm states modestly upgrade armed forces

Reuters, 04.27.03, 12:35 PM ET  By Denise Luna

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, April 27 (Reuters) - Some Latin American countries are modestly upgrading their armed forces despite a shortage of funds and some are looking for more equipment standardization in the region, participants at a defense fair said in the last week.

Participation at this year's Latin American Defense fair in Rio, which doubled since the event was last held in 2001, indicate the region's governments do worry about the huge technological gap between them and leading military powers.

"What is being done is that there are some (arms) purchases and the development of centers of excellence so that the technological distance to the United States, Europe and Russia does not become so large it can't be reversed," said Nelson Francisco During, the editor of a specialist defense Web site.

Most armed forces in Latin America are aging and underfunded. Severe budget constraints and the decline of regional border disputes led to falling military spending in the 1990s. Brazil's air force, for example, estimates that 50 percent of its fleet is in no condition to fly.

Venezuela is leading a modest regional move to upgrade its forces, perhaps motivated by border tensions with Colombia. Caracas and Bogota have accused each other of not doing enough to stop the cross-border activities of Colombia's Marxist rebels and their rightist paramilitary enemies.

"The path to modernization is intended to ensure that Venezuela has a representative armed force, we need to shape it so that we can defend ourselves if anybody attacks us," said Luis Alfredo Torcatti, head of Venezuela's armed forces.

Venezuela is upgrading its air force with 12 AMX-T light attack aircraft from Brazil's Embraer <EMBR4.SA> and Caracas has also bought $450 million worth of bombs for training from Brazilian firm Target. Venezuela's Italian navy frigate from the 1980s is being upgraded in the U.S.

"We just can't have the latest in technology because the speed of this evolution is out of reach with our resources," said Torcatti, adding that his country's recent purchases has left the armed forces "compact, but well equipped."

Torcatti played down tensions with Colombia, saying Venezuela's 15,000 soldiers on the border are there only to control the entry of guerrillas from the neighboring state.

Colombia, the region's biggest defense spender due to its decades-old conflict with rebels, was recently in the market for light attack aircraft but no purchase has been made.

Chile and Brazil are also buying, with Chile opting last year to buy F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. (nyse: LMT - news - people). Chile's purchase has been delayed by several years.

Brazil is also due to buy up to 12 new supersonic fighter jets for $700 million although the new centre-left government that came into power in January suspended the purchase for a year.

Brazil's Defense Minister Jose Viegas said the best future for the region's armed forces may be increased standardization of equipment in order to boost cooperation to fight international crime, drugs and arms smuggling. He met with several of his counterparts during the fair in Rio.

He said cooperation between regional armies is viable because conflict in the region is "practically impossible."

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