Defense Industry
The Venezuelan Defense industry was virtually non-existent until 1975 with the establishment of the state owned Venezuelan Military Industries Company (Compañía Anónima Venezolana de Industrias Militares - CAVIM). CAVIM was established on April 29th, 1975, by Presidential Decree 883. CAVIM was organized to encourage growth of the domestic defense industry and to produce the materiel required by the Venezuelan military. It has yet to achieve this goal.
The main reasons for CAVIM's failure is the collapse of oil revenue in the 1980s, and thus, the loss of government funding. Another reason lay in the decision by the Venezuelan government to invest in imported advanced technology weaponry, such as the American F-16, which CAVIM could not produce or offer itself as a primary source of parts. Instead, CAVIM has been delegated to the production of small arms and ammunition, chemicals, explosives, and patrol craft for the Venezuelan navy.
CAVIM's administrative headquarters is based in Caracas and it presently has two industrial complex divisions: chemical and metal-mechanical. The chemical division is located in Moron and is the site of a nitric acid plant, a nitrocellulose plant, an explosives plant, a blasting agent plant, a chemical explosive plant, and a shaped charges plant. The metal-mechanical complex is located in Maracay, and is the site of a guns and ammunition plant, a non-ferrous foundry, and home to a metal-mechanical process technical consultancy.
In February, 2006, Cavim announced the production of the Pistola Zamorana, the first domestically produced handgun in Venezuela. The pistol is a 9mm with a stock of fifteen rounds.
In July, 2006, Venezuela announced it had paid Russia for the licensing rights to produce AK-47s and CAVIM is expected to establish a factory for their production. Incidentally, the AK-47 models to be built are an older model and CAVIM will need to rework its present ammunition production to support the rifle production. The factory is expected to be built in Maracay and under full production in two years.
