Yesterday, we wrote that State Department spokesman Ian Kelly had expressed concern about Venezuela's desire to build up its arsenal. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a very similar statement yesterday during her press conference with Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez.

In response to a question about weapons sales and the possibility of an arms race in the region, Secretary Clinton chose to focus her answer entirely on Venezuela, even though the reporter also used Brazil's recent military agreement with France as an example. According to Secretary Clinton, "[Venezuela] outpace[s] all other countries in South America and certainly raise[s] the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region." As Ian Kelly did in the press briefing, Secretary Clinton emphasized the importance of putting procedures and practices in place "to ensure that the weapons ... are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organizations."

Uruguayan President Vásquez also responded to the question, focusing his answer more on how investment in arms can divert attention and investment away from development and fighting poverty and inequality in the region. "The governments of South America [should] decide to devote more money to promote health, to promote education and education to prevent diseases; to spend that money, instead of spending it in weapons."

Below is an excerpt from the joint press conference, citing in full both Secretary Clinton's and President Vasquez's answers to the question on arms transfers in the region.

QUESTION: I was wondering if you could give us your thoughts on what seems to be a growing transfer of arms and possibly even an arms race in the region. We've seen a lot of transfers of technology from Iran to Venezuela. The Brazilians just bought a very big package from the French. And I'm wondering if this is alarming to you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we have expressed concern about the number of Venezuelan arms purchases. They outpace all other countries in South America and certainly raise the question as to whether there is going to be an arms race in the region. So we urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases, clear about its purposes. They should be putting in place procedures and practices to ensure that the weapons that they buy are not diverted to insurgent groups or illegal organizations, like drug trafficking gangs and other criminal cartel

PRESIDENT VAZQUEZ: (Via interpreter) With respect to the arms race, not only is our country worried, but we have already expressed time and again our position against an arms race. We believe that it is quite inconvenient to the region to devote such significant economic resources toward purchasing arms. And - but it's a fact, and we can't deny it, that the countries are buying weapons.

And to make things worse, our region is the region that has the worst distribution of wealth. So with - under those conditions, it is still worse to be devoting those resources to weapons. South America has millions of people living in poverty, and there are thousands of children that die across Latin America and South America because of child diarrhea or diseases that could be prevented.

So because of all these reasons, all that should lead the governments of South America to decide to devote more money to promote health, to promote education and education to prevent diseases; to spend that money, instead of spending it in weapons, spending it in housing, good housing for our people, and to further deepen investment, especially in the field of education.

So we should devote our energies and resources to fight against the real scourges of our societies, that are drug - such as drug trafficking and terrorism. That would be certainly a much better use of our resources.

Yesterday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly was asked about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's ambitions to pursue a civilian nuclear program with help from Russia, and whether this has inspired concern within the U.S. government about technology transfers or nuclear transfers between Venezuela and Iran.

According to Kelly, the United States is concerned not only about the civilian nuclear program, but also about Venezuela's desire to build up its arsenal. He stated a U.S. government desire that Venezuela put in place procedures and safeguards to ensure that "these arms are not diverted to any irregular or illegal organizations in the region." Kelly's response alludes to recent reports that Venezuelan anti-tank rocket launchers were recently found in the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as well as the United States' growing concern about Iran's influence in the region.

Below is the full text of State Department spokesman Kelly's response to the question on Venezuela during yesterday's press briefing at the State Department.

QUESTION: Is there any concern about technology transfers or nuclear transfers on the U.S. part between Iran and Venezuela?

MR. KELLY: The short answer is, to that, yes, we do have concerns. We have concerns in general about Venezuela’s stated desire to increase its arms buildup, which we think poses a serious challenge to stability in the Western Hemisphere. What they are looking to purchase and what they are purchasing outpaces all other countries in South America. And of course, we’re concerned about an arms race in the region.

And we urge Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases and very clear about the purposes of these purchases. And we’re also very concerned that they put in place very clear procedures and safeguards that these – that these arms are not diverted to any irregular or illegal organizations in the region.

...

Venezuela is a signatory of the NPT. It has certain obligations, of course, under the NPT for any civilian nuclear program. And of course, we will be looking closely at this.

Brazil's announcement yesterday that it is negotiating a $2-4 billion purchase of French fighter aircraft is the latest in a series of arms purchases, most of them in South America, that have analysts worried about an arms race. Just in 2009, we have seen the following arms purchases announced:

• Brazil will buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French aircraft manufacturer Dassault. Earlier, Brazil had announced a joint venture with France to build submarines - one of them nuclear-powered - and helicopters.

• Russia offered a $100 million credit to Bolivia to buy Mi-17 helicopters, a new presidential plane, trucks and other logistical equipment. In January, Bolivia's defense ministry announced its intention to buy six Czech-made L-159 fighter planes.

• President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, whose government signed deals for about $4.4 billion worth of Russian fighter planes, helicopters and rifles between 2005 and 2007, announced in early August the purchase of 30 to 40 Russian-made BMP-3, T-72 and MPR tanks. In April, Chávez announced the purchase of portable Russian missiles.

• "Ecuador is buying 24 Brazilian warplanes and six Israeli drones to keep a closer watch on its borders," the AP reports.

• In June, Chile announced a $270 million purchase of 18 U.S.-made F-16 fighters from the Netherlands. This follows the purchase of 10 F-16s directly from the United States in 2005-2006.

• In addition to billions of dollars worth of training and equipment received as grants, Colombia has purchased dozens of helicopters from the United States during the 2000s, and in June announced a $150 million purchase of Israeli Kfir fighter jets from Israel.

During the mid-2000s, the United States normally sold between $1.1 and $1.4 billion in weapons to all of Latin America and the Caribbean in a typical year. This amount is dwarfed by some of Russia's single sales to Venezuela during this period, as well as the new French contract with Brazil. Sill, the United States is by far the largest arms vendor to the developing world, according to an annual Congressional Research Service report released late last week and summarized by the New York Times.

The United States signed weapons agreements valued at $37.8 billion in 2008, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global arms bazaar, up significantly from American sales of $25.4 billion the year before.

Italy was a distant second, with $3.7 billion in worldwide weapons sales in 2008, while Russia was third with $3.5 billion in arms sales last year.

During the past few weeks, we noticed a significant increase in discussion of defense budgets throughout the hemisphere. In most countries, defense spending is on the increase. Here is an overview of recent media coverage from CIP Intern Matthew Mcclellan.

The combined defense budgets of South American states increased from US$39 billion in 2007 to US$50 billion in 2008. Most countries have become buyers in the new market for arms, some are sellers, and nearly all are furtively examining their neighbors' actions.

The Ecuadorian government took a step toward spending transparency with the elimination of the Junta de Defensa. The Junta was accused of embarrassing gaffes like the Defense Ministry overpaying for used Argentine defense articles, as it did in 1995. Some feel the government’s action amounts to little more than a token gesture. President Correa has meanwhile overseen a large increase in defense spending. From 2000 through 2008, Ecuador spent over US$895 million on Defense. During Correa’s time in office, since January 2007, the Defense budget soared over US$631 million – over 70% of the nine-year spending total in just two years.

Argentina has not put nearly as much money into the military as its neighbors, claiming a Defense budget of only 0.87% of its 2008 GDP. The Air Force has put off purchasing French Mirage fighter aircraft until 2011 or 2012, when it will reevaluate the economic climate. Today, the country’s most pressing Defense concern is keeping troops in its Armed Forces. Unlike other countries that are considering increasing military capacities, Argentina is concerned with maintaining them. A recent study found nearly half of all individuals in the Armed Forces have considered leaving within the last two years, including a substantial number of young pilots and officers who have left to seek better opportunities, for better pay, or to keep their families intact.

Some Argentine analysts appear distraught about falling behind “international heavyweight” – and neighbor – Brazil. In December, President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva announced Brazil’s plan to upgrade its military and arms industry. Part of the plan includes training soldiers in rapid mobilization and guerrilla tactics, and the government wishes to resurrect conscription. While the plan includes purchasing foreign arms, the modernization's focus is for the country to increase its domestic arms industry.

Brazil has ordered 4 diesel-powered Scorpène class submarines from France, but plans to develop its own nuclear-powered fleet, at a total cost over US$3 billion. The plan appears to be both financed by, and in the name of protecting, newly found Brazilian offshore oil reserves.

Over the last several months, Brazil has consolidated its position as the largest South American arms vendor. Bolivia recently negotiated the purchase of Brazilian land vehicles and Super Tucano attack aircraft, and hopes to borrow from Brazilian institutions to fund additional purchases. Bolivia has also acquired several helicopters from Russia.

Venezuela's Defense budget is 1% of its 2008 GDP, but growing steadily. It has been cultivating a relationship with Russia through arms purchases over the last several years. From 2005 through 2008, Venezuela bought over US$4 billion in arms and equipment from Moscow, and a September announcement revealed another US$1 billion credit for more purchases from Russia.

Peru has decided to install two facilities capable of repairing Russian-made helicopters, clearly setting the stage for future purchases between the two nations. While this particularly animated editorial in El Comercio questions the drive to increase Defense spending, much of the discussion centers on keeping pace with Chile, which maintained a 2008 Defense budget of 3.73% of its GDP, second only to Colombia in South America.

Colombia has more than doubled its defense expenditure since 2000. The Defense Ministry's budget, which includes police, now exceeds 6 percent of GDP. U.S. security assistance to Colombia is slightly less than it was in the early 2000s, making the U.S. contribution to Colombia's overall defense effort far smaller, as this July blog post from the Center for International Policy explains. Nonetheless Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s Defense Minister, plans to travel to Washington shortly after Barack Obama's inauguration, to urge officials to maintain established levels of aid under the Plan Colombia framework.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez heads to Russia today to buy more than $2 billion in arms. This is an increase in the $3 billion Venezuela spent in the previous three years, from 2005-2007. The U.S. has been worrying over Venezuela's military buildup, and actually stopped selling weapons to the country in 2006.

Speaking of arms, Chavez will visit Spain as part of his Russia trip where he said that he just wants to hug the King, referencing a previous incident where Spain's King Juan Carlos de Borbon told him to shut up.