Venezuela plans to buy Russian
arms
Venezuela plans to buy a large
number of Russian arms,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said Saturday after meeting with
his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin.
Chavez, who was in Moscow for a
visit, was quoted by the
Venezuelan daily El Universal as
saying in Moscow: "We are
modernizing and reinforcing our
armed forces to cope with any
form of aggression."
According to Chavez, Venezuela
will buy Russian assault rifles
to strengthen its armed forces.
The two presidents also talked
about Venezuela's wish to
"acquire a large amount of
anti-tank an dair-defense
equipment," Chavez said.
Venezuela has already agreed to
purchase Russian helicopters
worth of 40 million US dollars,
said Chavez, adding that the
aircraft could start arriving
early in 2005.
Chavez arrived in Moscow on
Thursday for a two-day visit.
On Friday, the two sides signed
a protocol on the conclusion of
bilateral negotiations on the
access to the commodity and
service markets in the course of
Russia's accession to the World
Trade Organization.
They also signed a memorandum of
understanding between Russia's
Lukoil and Venezuelan state oil
company PDVSA, an agreement on
cooperation in containing money
laundering and an
intergovernmental agreement on
fuel and energy cooperation.
3 kidnapped released by
Colombian rebels
Colombian guerrillas released
three people, including a
reporter, Saturday in a region
affected by a bloody shoot-out
with paramilitaries.
Raul Bayadares, a radiao station
reporter, told the press that
the guerrillas of the National
Liberation Army (ELN) decided to
release him Friday, hours after
the kidnapping in the jungle
department of Choco in west
Colombia.
Bayadares said he was freed
because of his poor health. The
insurgents also released one
woman and one indigenous man,
but they still took a municipal
employee and a driver in
hostage.
The five were abducted Friday in
Choco where an armed clash
between the ELN and far-right
paramilitaries broke out
Wednesday, one day after the
army withdrew from the region.
Four civilians and eight
guerrillas were killed in the
clash.
Last year there were 3,400
extortion-related kidnappings in
the country, the most in the
world.
Chilean socialist party chooses
presidential candidate
The Socialist Party of Chile on
Saturday nominated Michelle
Bachelet as its presidential
candidate for the 2005
elections.
The party, which is the largest
in the four-party coalition
government, chose Bachelet as
its presidential candidate, the
second one to represent the four
political parties in the ruling
coalition.
The Party for Democracy has also
expressed its support for
Bachelet.
Bachelet ranks first in opinion
polls on possible presidential
candidates, followed by former
Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear,
Senator Adolfo Zaldivar and
former Chilean President Eduardo
Frei (1994-2000).
The fourth presidential
candidate, from the Radical
Social-Democrat Party, has not
been named.
According to opinion polls,
Bachelet and Alvear surpassed
the main opposition candidate,
Santiago Mayor Joaquin Lavin.
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