Chavez takes greater control of military

Washington Times:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has moved to tighten his control over his nation's armed forces, which he has equipped with the most powerful arsenal in the region, according to military officials and defense analysts.

In a command reshuffle last month, Mr. Chavez replaced his defense minister, Gen. Raul Baduel, with Gen. Gustavo Rangel, who previously commanded a 100,000-strong militia established by Mr. Chavez to protect his regime and resist any U.S. invasion.

Gen. Baduel had criticized Mr. Chavez's rule as unnecessarily authoritarian. "A socialist regime is not incompatible with a democratic system of checks and balances and division of powers. We must separate ourselves from Marxist orthodoxy," he said in a farewell speech.

The outgoing minister had been credited with saving Mr. Chavez's government in 2002 when, as commander of an elite armored unit, he refused to support other senior officers who briefly toppled the government.

Another recently retired general, Muller Rojas, believes Gen. Baduel's resignation signals a purge of the high command, which he says has become "highly politicized and partisan."

The new defense chief, Gen. Rangel, underwent military instruction in Cuba and is expected to merge the regular army with politically directed militias armed with new AK-103 rifles purchased from Russia.

"By naming Rangel, Chavez imposes his military thesis on the high command. The president conceives of a tactical doctrine combining professional armed forces and militias, which are the basis of the asymmetrical warfare strategy of the people in arms," said Venezuelan defense analyst Alberto Garrido.

Addressing a group of graduating cadets last month, Mr. Chavez told them: "We are taking the model of the war of resistance, which is the people with the soldiers of our armed forces preparing for the defense of the nation." The newly minted officers were required to swear to the slogan "Socialism or death" at the commencement ceremony.

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This article supports my position in the Kagan post below on the need for victory in Iraq to demonstrate that asymetrical warfare or insurgency can be defeated. If we do not do so it is likely that Chavez will start a war with us that he thinks he can win.