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Caribbean-Latin America
Uruguay caught buying Iran arms
2007-10-13
A clear example of why the Mullah-Chavez axis is such a bad thing for us.
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Uruguayan parliamentary investigators said they blocked an attempt by their government to purchase arms from Iran, using a diversion through Venezuela to try to evade U.N. sanctions on the Tehran government.

Some 15,000 rounds of Iranian-made 5.56 mm ammunition were loaded onto a Uruguayan navy ship in Venezuela before the attempt was discovered, said Javier Garcia of Uruguay's opposition National Party in an interview. Uruguay's military chiefs deny they ordered the munitions.
"Lies! All lies!"
The shipment, part of a larger deal involving the sale of 18,000 Iranian-made automatic rifles, would be in clear violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1747, passed March 24 in an effort to curb that country"s uranium enrichment program. "The Iran-Venezuela-Uruguay triangulation of these munitions had the objective of allowing Iran" to make a sale to Uruguay in spite of the sanctions, Mr. Garcia said.

Although Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez is considered a center-left moderate, his government includes elements of the Tupamaros Liberation Front who support Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's brand of radical socialism. During a meeting with Mr. Vazquez in August, Mr. Chavez offered to supply oil to Uruguay on favorable terms.

According to the Uruguayan parliamentary investigators, Iranian arms exporter Moldex planned to sell 18,000 HK2002 rifles, described as lighter versions of the Russian Kalashnikov, through the Venezuelan military contractor Compania Anonima Venezolana de Industrias Militares, or CAVIM. However, Mr. Garcia said, the arms were ultimately destined for Uruguay's army and navy. He said that the munitions picked up in Venezuela were supposed to serve as "practice rounds."

Uruguayan defense officials dismissed the incident as the result of "confusion," admitting only to having considered an Iranian bid for weapons before the U.N. sanctions came into effect. But investigators said Mr. Vazquez sent a note to the Uruguayan congress authorizing the navy ship Artigas to pick up a "cargo" in Venezuela on July 9 — more than three months after the U.N. resolution.

Top CAVIM executives and Venezuelan generals approached Uruguay's ambassador in Caracas, Geronimo Cardozo, to arrange the transfer of the munitions to Uruguay, according to regional press reports. These reports said Mr. Cardozo appealed for the "highest levels" of the Uruguayan government to order the Artigas to Venezuela on its way home from a mission with U.N. peacekeeping forces in Haiti.

"If the delivery had taken place, we would have violated U.N. resolutions, exposing ourselves to serious sanctions and the loss of our international credibility," Mr. Garcia said.
Posted by:Steve White

#4  This is good news, but I hope the diligence continues. Day of Islam author Williams links Brazilian camps of Hezbollah(since 1983) and OBL to the drug cartels of Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador on page 141-143.
Posted by: Danielle   2007-10-13 17:50  

#3  15K rounds, just testing the water.
Posted by: Ebbenter the Galactic Hero4729   2007-10-13 12:15  

#2  15K rounds? That wouldn't be enough for a year's training for the Uruguayan military. Now if it was going to the Tupamaros Liberation Front...
Posted by: Pappy   2007-10-13 10:56  

#1  Looks like someone in the Uruguayan Government was about to rake in some serious cash.
Corruption is the only explanation why they would choose Iranian rifles and ammunition.. stuff they could buy anywhere...
Posted by: john frum   2007-10-13 09:08  

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