Chavez to beef up Venezuela’s military power

President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela would strengthen its military might after the US planned to deploy more troops in the neighboring country Colombia.

“We need to strengthen our forces on land, at sea, and in the air and we’re going to continue doing that,” Chavez told military officials on Thursday.

“We are going to bring … several new tank battalions to have an armored force at least twice the size of what we have today,” he added.

Earlier, Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe announced that in an agreement with Washington, his country would allow more US troops to be deployed on three military bases in Colombia.

The Venezuelan anti-US leader also criticized the move, saying it posed a serious threat to Venezuela.

“The presence of these Yankee troops in Colombia will cause more problems,” said Chavez.

In recent years, Venezuela has bought over $4 billion in Russian arms, including Sukhoi fighter jets, helicopters and Kalashnikov rifles.

Chavez said he had already told Russian leaders of Venezuela’s decision to buy more arms.