[NYTr] US Secy of War Gates Heads to Latin America

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Guess they've given up entirely on sending the hopeless, hapless
Condi, who's made a major mess every time she and her hangers-on went
outh of the border.  In addition, Gates' mission of course concerns
Arms! Weapons! War! so it's part of his portfolio. The only country
they have so far admitted he will be visiting is El Salvador, which
is still sending cannon fodder to Iraq.  Surprising he isn't taking
the Prince of Darkness John "Deathsquad" Negroponte with him, just
for old times' sake... but then Negroponte is busy in Pakistan.-NY
Transfer]


AFP via Google - Oct 2, 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5guLU-9mdE2wZ-n1VP-GErx9p6ZVw


US defense chief heads to Latin America under Chavez shadow

Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON (AFP) ? US Defense Secretary Robert Gates left Tuesday on
his first trip to Latin America to meet top allies, under the shadow of
Venezuela's rearmament efforts and growing ties with Iran, Russia and
China.

Gates will visit El Salvador, the only Latin American country to still
have troops in Iraq, on the trip. Other stops were not revealed.

Gates, who succeeded Donald Rumsfeld in December, had been scheduled to
visit the region in July, with stops in Colombia, where Washington has
spent billions to fight drug trafficking, and Chile and Peru. But he
postponed the trip to stay in Washington for a showdown between the
White House and Congress over the Iraq war.

The US defense chief will likely discuss the war with Salvadoran
President Antonio Saca, whose government reduced its contingent in Iraq
from 380 to 280 troops in August. Five Salvadoran soldiers have died in
Iraq since 2003.

Besides meeting US allies, the US defense chief's trip is also aimed at
countering the growing influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in
the region, analysts say.

"The worrisome issue for the United States is, what is Chavez doing and
what are his plans," said Michael Shifter, vice president of the
Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank.

Chavez has used his country's oil wealth in recent years to add muscle
to his military, buying from Russia 24 fighter jets, 53 helicopters and
100,000 AK-47 assault rifles.

Stephen Donehoo, a Latin America expert with consulting firm Kissinger
McLarty Associates, warned that Venezuela's rearmament could trigger an
arms race in the region.

"I think we are concerned that if you have 100,000 extra AK-47 flooding
around in the region, then it can be destabilizing," he said.

The United States also faces stiff competition in the arms sector from
European countries, including Spain, seeking a bigger share of the
Latin American market. Washington barred Spain from selling 12 military
planes to Caracas last year because they contained US components.

"I think what you have are a lot of countries that want to sell arms,
but are using arms as a means of diplomacy," said Harlan Ullman, an
expert with the Center of Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.

"China and Russia are very interested obviously in Venezuela, because
it's got a huge amount of oil," said Ullman, a former US marine officer.

"What you see is that arm sales become a target or at least a means to
advance other political and economical interests and getting greater
influence in the area," he said.

Venezuela has also become a backdoor access to the region for a top US
foe, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has developed close
ties with Chavez and gained Caracas' support for Iran's disputed
nuclear program, analysts say.

Ahmadinejad traveled to Bolivia last week to meet with leftist
President Evo Morales, a top ally of Chavez and Castro. He has also met
this year with leftist presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Daniel
Ortega of Nicaragua.

"If it was not for Chavez," Shifter said, "he would not be in Bolivia
or in Nicaragua."