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25 April 2005

United States Regrets Venezuela's Halt to Military Training Ties

State Department calls termination of bilateral exchange program "unfortunate"

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S. State Department said it regrets that Venezuela has ended a 35-year military training agreement with the United States.

Briefing reporters April 25, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez terminated the U.S.-Venezuelan Bilateral Military Exchange Program April 16.  Ereli said the Chavez government had informed five U.S. officers in Venezuela that their assignments in the country had concluded.

Ereli said it is "unfortunate" that the Venezuelan government has chosen to dismantle what "historically has been a strong and friendly military relationship."

The spokesman said he could not report specifically how Venezuela's decision would "play out," in terms of when the approximately 100 Venezuelan military officers in training in the United States would return to their country.

That decision, he said, is "something that obviously we'll need to discuss with the Venezuelan government."

Ereli said the Bush administration believes the U.S.-Venezuelan relationship had benefited from the cooperative agreement for military training.

"We certainly think [the Venezuelan government decision is] unjustified, given how this cooperation ... has served both countries very well," said Ereli.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas issued a statement April 22, reacting to the Venezuelan government's ending of the program.  That statement, posted in Spanish on the embassy's Web site, said that without "giving any previous notice," the government of Venezuela "abruptly terminated" U.S. participation in the military exchange bilateral program.

According to the statement, the U.S. Embassy "regrets this unexpected action.  The U.S. government hopes to maintain the historical fraternal relations" between the two military forces.

The U.S. response to the ending of the program came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepared to embark on an April 26-30 visit to four countries in Latin America -- Brazil, Colombia, Chile and El Salvador.

The State Department said that Rice plans to highlight U.S. support for democracy, free trade, and sustainable development during her visit to the region.  She also intends to discuss enhancing cooperation on education, environmental protection, poverty reduction and the fight against drug trafficking and crime.

While in Chile, Rice will head the U.S. delegation to the Community of Democracies ministerial meeting.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)