HOME	Where the World's Views of America Come into Focus

April 8, 2005

Original Article (Spanish)

Last Tuesday, President Hugo Chavez formally announced the decree calling for the "conscription of military reservists" around the country, and the incorporation of civil society into activities to "maintain national peace."

Chavez said that he hoped for "one or two million organized, trained and suitably equipped reservists, ready to defend the sovereignty and greatness of this land."

"If someone comes here to try and snatch the mother country form us, they will bite the dust," said Chavez, during Sunday radio and television program, "Hello, Mr. President." Without giving details, it said that the reservists "will be ready to defend, in nearby towns, the sovereignty and greatness of this land."

Chavez has repeatedly said over the past year that Washington plans to assassinate him, and has sworn that if America invades and attempts to seize Venezuela's abundant oil fields, the military and civilians will be prepared. American officials have denied any plans for an invasion, but have criticized the purchase of Russian helicopters and 100,000 Kalishnikov rifles, which it says could fall into the hands of rebel groups.

The Venezuelan government has defended the weapons purchases, saying that the new armaments would remain under the control of the nation's military. Chavez accuses the U.S. of being behind an attempted coup d'etat in 2002, which Washington denies. Nevertheless, Chavez said this week that he does not want to be "an enemy" of the United States, his main petroleum buyer.

THE OPINIONS OF ANALYSTS

Experts on the subject, generally members of previous [Venezuelan] governments, say that Chavez' intentions are clear. Fernando Ochoa Antich, a minister of defense under former president Carlos Andres Perez, believes Chavez wants his own personal military service.

"Being a former member of the military himself, the president knows that the professional armed services cannot serve as part of his own 'personal' government, so Chavez is therefore looking for a more ideological military service, that will have officials that have not been formed within traditional military institutions, and that have a structure of control that will obey him blindly."

[Editor's Note: In 1992, Chavez attempted to overthrow the government of Carlos Andres Perez.]

Ever since 2002, when a movement arose in the military to overthrow him, Chavez has mistrusted the Armed Forces. Now, under the president's recent decree, the military services will be obliged to eliminate dissidence within its ranks.

Little by little, Chavez has become so entrenched in power that nobody can remove him from the presidency. Ochoa Antich says he is sure of what Chavez is trying to do. "Without a doubt, he seeks to create a militarized society."

In 2005, there were accusations from the [U.S.] Departments of State and Defense against the Chavez government for, supposedly, purchasing weapons in an "untransparent" manner, violating human rights, failing to behave properly within the rules of democratic-representative government, destabilizing governments in the region, and not fighting the Colombian insurgency.

Like Chavez, General Lopez Hidalgo has defined the strategic enemy as the White House. The secretary of the Venezuelan National Defense and Security Council, he has also referred to the "permanent threat" that the United States represents, and that this could mean facing the possibility of an asymmetric war. Such a war would be civic and military, and rely on a "network of social intelligence," according to analyst Alberto Garrido.

The organization of this civic-military structure would have three interlocking levels:

a) The regular military; b) The cooperative military-reserve forces; and, c) The popular reserve, to flexibly integrate resistance to an invasion, chiefly from Colombia or the United States.

For Garrido, "The announcement that Venezuela's defense will plan for an asymmetric war leads one to an immediate conclusion: The government has considered the likelihood that it could lose control of the State, as happened with the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Baath party in Iraq. That moment could come quickly if the invasion is sudden, in the case of a blitzkrieg. Or it might take a bit longer in the case of a land battle, with columns of tanks and infantry, but in either case, Venezuela's conventional military would be transformed into a defensive system of irregular forces."

CASTRO SAYS THAT HIS COUNTRY IS INVULNERABLE

Cuban President Fidel Castro said that his country is "invulnerable" to a military invasion, while taking part in a meeting to evaluate the results of military exercises with Venezuela, called Bastion-2004, the "most fruitful exercises that I have ever witnessed," he said on Tuesday.

"The improvement in the handling of weapons ... gives one the belief that the enemy can be defeated, and more quickly than we had thought in the past," Castro said in front of military commanders, and government and Communist Party leaders.

Bastion-2004, the largest military exercises Cuba has seen since 1986, took place last year, from December 13 to 19. The exercise took place around the country, with the participation of about 1,200 civic groups and 1,000 economic groups from around the country.

[Editor's Note: Last year, Cuban officials said that about 100,000 soldiers, some 400,000 reservists, and "millions" of civilians took part.]

"Bastion 2004 established that 'the Revolution' is invulnerable to a land invasion," Castro said in a letter published in the local press.

In the, Castro laid much emphasis on the "important meaning" the exercises had, both at the national and international level, that "contributed in such a significant way to a strengthening of the defense capabilities" of the island in the face of the United States.

Cuba "will never buckle under the constant threats and aggressions of Yankee imperialism, which has never given up its wish to destroy the Cuban Revolution," adds the text of the letter.
In the mid-1980s, Cuba elaborated a new military doctrine called, "War of the Entire Town," which organizes the entire population into 400,000 zones of defense. In addition to the regular army, the military's "Territorial Troops," comprising a million men and women, as well as what is called, the "Brigades of Production and Defense," an additional 3.5 million people, are organized into more than 60,000 units.

For Castro, the "country can be invaded, even occupied, but never won," while his brother Raul, the minister of the armed forces, sees the War of the Entire Town as, "an enormous wasp's nest that will repel any aggressor."