Army Brigade General Julio Cesar Morales Prieto, the president of Venezuela’s state arms firm, Compañía Anónima Venezolana de Industrias Militares (Cavim), said that since Venezuela and Russia signed a deal in 2005 to set up a Kalashnikov assembly factory, some 3,000 AK-103 assault rifles have been turned out, adding that once the facility reaches its full strength it will have the capacity to produce 25,000 rifles annually, along with grenades and other ammunition. “One day we will be exporting thousands of rifles and drones”, Chávez declared over TV images of one of the first three drones already manufactured, explaining that the drones, which he stressed are equipped only with cameras, have a range of 100km and can reach a height of 3,000 metres.
Since 2005 Venezuela has spent upwards of US$4bn on Russian arms and military aircraft, including 24 Sukhoi fighter jets, dozens of attack helicopters and an estimated 100,000 Kalashnikovs.
Chávez acknowledged additional military cooperation from China and Iran, noting that his ally, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would stop by Caracas en route from the Rio+20 summit in Brazil, “to continue advancing the binational alliance for peace”. “President Lukashenko will also visit us soon”, Chávez added cheerfully, in reference to another of his ‘axis of evil’ allies, Dmitry Lukashenko of Belarus.
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