US eyes Russia in Latin America Amid Crisis Over Georgia; Former Soviet Bombers in Venezuela
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by on 12-09-2008
by Lachlan Carmichael
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States faced growing challenges Friday in Latin America after Venezuela received what the US called “Cold War era” bombers from Russia and joined Bolivia in ordering out the US ambassador.
A Russian Tu-160 bomber at a military air base some 110 km west from Caracas. The United States faced growing challenges Friday in Latin America after Venezuela received what the US called “Cold War era” bombers from Russia and joined Bolivia in ordering out the US ambassador(AFP/Alveiro Bolivar)
At a time of rising US-Russian tensions over Georgia, the United States voiced wariness about Russia’s aims in Latin America, even if both sides denied any link with the month-long crisis back in eastern Europe.
“It is something that we will watch very closely, as we have with the movements of other military assets for the stated purpose of this joint exercise,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack [...]
