Posted on 03/06/2006 5:16:29 PM PST by proud_yank
Venezuela, frequently coming to the agenda with its anti-US policies, aims to have the largest “voluntary reserve army” in the American continent by training two million civilians in the upcoming year.
In this frame, About 500,000 voluntary civilians began the four-month military training program on Saturday. Venezuela will have the largest reserve army, double the size of US armed services reserves, in the American continent by the summer of 2007. Being a part of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s “public army” plan, this army will directly intervene in possible civilian unrests and conflicts.
In a statement to the British daily Guardian, General Alberto Muller Rojas who implemented the new military strategy, told: “If the US army occupies our country one day as many people think, the only way out for us is to make a guerilla war”. Indicating that they have 80,000 professional soldiers, General Rojas said they need civilians like the ones in Iraq who fight against the US army.
Senior military officials emphasize that a very deterrent power will be formed against the possible attacks towards Venezuela with the training of one out of five adults with this program. The daily stressed the fact that public companies in Venezuela, the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, established their own security units increased the demands for joining the “public army”. The Venezuelan Parliament is working on a law draft, which will render it “compulsory” for adults to join the “public army”.
Those over the age of 18 have to serve a 2,5-year military service in the country, which has a population of 25 million. The number of potential soldiers between the ages of 18 and 49 is more than six million in the country where more than 250 thousand youths are registered as soldiers every year. The annual military expense of the country is around $2 billion.
Chavez has been on an anti-US crusade since he was elected. He's getting kookier every day.
Who's this guy kidding? Is he going to march up through Mexico? We'll just stop them at the border. Oh, um...wait. Maybe not...
Translation from Commiespeak
voluntary = threatened with personal reprisals for non-compliance with the dictates of El Dorko.
It's ok. We have more, and bigger, bombs.
That "2 million" will quickly bite the hand that feeds when they get bored.
Hugo Ping
Maybe his army will be managed by the same folks who organised the Million Man March.
They are probably cutting down the rain forest to make the wooden rifles they are marching with.
Why is the oil located where the a-holes rule?
What the article fails to mention is that 20 Venezuelan regulars are roughly equivalent to one US soldier from any branch of service-- including coast guard and boy scouts.
Big whoop. The NRA has something on the order of 4 million members, but the vast majority of US gun owners don't even belong. The average gun owner owns several guns, and knows basically how to use them. Unlike the Swiss, we wouldn't even have to all shoot once, let alone twice.
When the German Kaiser asked in 1912 what the quarter of a million Swiss militiamen would do if invaded by a half million German soldiers, a Swiss replied: shoot twice and go home
If you guys find any good Hugo threads, please ping me. I'll do the same if you would like too, its something I kind of enjoy following.
LOL! I'd love to see that.
If they are voluntarily training, I'm a Chinese aviator.
Add in the Religious fanaticism of the Whabbie movement and it's Shiite equivalent, and you get giant sized a-holes.
I'll be glad to ping you if I see a Hugo thread.
This is really weird...some of the best people I have ever met were from Venezuela. Many were engineers working here to learn enough to go back to their own country.
Hugo reminds of an over-the-top character from In living Colour. I sometimes wonder if he is really just an edgy stand-up comic becuase his pronouncements are usually funny in a crackhead sort of way.
Bien, gracias. ;-)
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