At the Washington Times,
Cuban advisers bolster Venezuelan regime
Cuba’s communist government has deployed thousands of technical and military advisers to Venezuela to bolster the regime of leftist President Hugo Chavez, as that country faces energy shortages and increased repression against opposition political leaders.
A senior Cuban security official and former interior minister, Gen. Ramiro Valdez, arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, in February to take charge of a Cuban government mission that over the past several years has grown to an estimated 40,000 advisers and aid workers, including a large contingent of Cuban military personnel.
Ponder that number: forty thousand Cuban personnel. What do they do?
The advisers include intelligence and security officers, political advisers and medical personnel.
…
“There are indications that agents of the Cuban G-2 [military intelligence] are operating openly at all the main military installations, principally the Ministry of Defense, the strategic operations command, the joint chiefs of staff headquarters, command centers of the army, navy, air force and national guard, as well as the military intelligence directorate” and the internal security service, said retired Brig. Gen. Francisco Uson, who served as defense planning director and briefly held the post of finance minister in Mr. Chavez’s government.
This should come as no surprise to listeners to my March 31 podcast, where my guest Daniel of Venezuela News and Views discussed this issue.
By the way, Simon Romero of the NYT has been writing about Chavez’s persecution of the opposition.
btw.. you are one of my favorite blogs to read and one of the few dealing with latin american issues. keep up the good work.
In some ways, I’m glad the Cubans are there – I’ve been told by Central/South Americans that Cubans are like New Yorkers – considered rude, abrupt and generally abrasive. Anything that alienates the Venezuelan populace is a good thing, in my book. And everybody in S. America loves having somebody else’s army giving your army orders 🙂
Besides, having a large army doesn’t mean a lot – training and intelligence counts for a huge amount. Look at Israel & the Arabs. Who will Venezuela really invade? Colombia, through the jungles?
Oh yeah – Fausta – keep up the good work like Wes D says above! It’s hard to find out what’s going on in your own back door…