Chapter 1246 Chavez's Reforms

Chavez still goes his own way!

Holding oil and natural gas, Chavez is full of confidence!

Venezuela's oil reserves now reach 297 billion barrels, natural gas reserves are 3.6 trillion cubic meters, coal reserves exceed 9 billion tons, and iron ore resources exceed 2 billion tons.

With the huge income from oil and natural gas exports, Chavez can better transform Venezuela.

Speaking of Chavez's political philosophy, we have to talk about the history of Venezuela.

Venezuela is a country located in the north of South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea to the north, Colombia to the west, Brazil to the south, and Guyana to the east. It is known as the "Land of Waterfalls".

Originally, the indigenous inhabitants of this land were Indians. Then Columbus discovered this place when he sailed to America in 1498. In 1523, the Spaniards established the first colony, and in 1567 it completely became a Spanish colony.

The Venezuelan people have been struggling against colonial rule until June 1821 when they completely got rid of Spanish colonial rule.

And here, we have to talk about the United States' "Monroe Doctrine"!

Therefore, Venezuela has always been a pro-American regime.

When Chavez was very young, he admired the South American independence leader Bolivar very much. He fantasized that he would cross the Andes and liberate the oppressed continent. Later, Chavez also joined the army. It was also in the army that Chavez witnessed the corruption and bribery among senior officers, saw the huge gap between the rich and the poor in the country, and the poverty of ordinary people, so Chavez united a group of like-minded soldiers and secretly established an organization called the "Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement".

At the highest point, Chavez served as the commander of the airborne battalion.

It's just that the coup launched by Chavez did not succeed, and he was even imprisoned for two years, but this did not knock Chavez down, but instead inspired Chavez's fighting spirit.

After winning the election through the general election, Chavez began to realize his political ambitions.

Chavez chose to nationalize oil and natural gas, because the economic lifeline of Venezuela is oil and natural gas. As long as oil and natural gas are nationalized, it is equivalent to holding the economic lifeline of Venezuela.

Sure enough, after the nationalization of oil and natural gas, the income increased significantly, which also allowed Chavez to have more funds for domestic reforms.

Especially after 2001, with the sharp rise in international oil and natural gas prices, Venezuela's income increased significantly, which gave Chavez enough funds to implement a series of reforms.

The US government has claimed more than once that Chavez has posed a threat to the process of democratization in Latin America.

It even tried to cut off Venezuela's oil revenue by not importing Venezuela's oil.

However, the rapid economic development of the East has increased its demand for oil day by day, and it has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest oil importer. Oil itself has become a seller's market.

As long as there is oil and natural gas, there is no worry about selling.

Eastern tankers and LNG ships are not affected by the United States.

Chavez is regarded as an anti-American fighter, but it does not mean that he is a fool. He is also strengthening the construction of the army, so that the United States dare not easily use force.

Thanks to Chavez's efforts, Venezuela's military strength has increased significantly.

Currently, Venezuela's military strength has 320,000 active troops, including 160,000 militias and 40,000 national guards.

Among them, there are 120,000 regular troops, including 80,000 army, 20,000 navy, and 20,000 air force.

The 80,000 army is organized into 6 divisions, consisting of 3 infantry divisions, 1 armored division, 1 rainforest infantry division, and 1 cavalry division.

The navy has 20,000 people, 93 ships and 36 aircraft. 2 Type 039 conventional submarines, 6 Type 054 frigates, 3 light frigates customized from China, 4 patrol ships, and 6 tank landing ships.

The air force has 20,000 people, 282 aircraft of various types, divided into 5 war zones and 14 squadrons. It has 23 J-11 fighters, 12 J-10 fighters, 24 K8 primary trainers, 12 J-7 advanced trainers, 12 J-7A advanced trainers, 24 Eagle advanced trainers, 80 J-7 modified, 80 J-8 modified, 15 J-15, 47 Y-8 transport aircraft, 6 electronic warfare aircraft, 16 helicopters, and several aircraft.

The navy, army and air force are all equipped with Chinese-made equipment.

Learning from the lessons of wars in other countries, for the sake of safety, Chavez attaches great importance to the construction of air defense forces.

The Aegis-1 air defense missile system of these two battalions was specially ordered by him to strengthen the air defense force.

And this is only the first batch, and there are three more batches to come!

Chavez likes to do business with Zhou Zhenguo very much. There are no messy conditions. It is pure trade. After everyone has reached an agreement, they will execute it according to the signed contract agreement.

With Argentina trying to take back the Falkland Islands by force and Britain's strong statement that it would not hesitate to fight another Falklands War, Chavez smelled the scent of war.

Chavez knew very well that the biggest challenge facing Venezuela was the hegemony of the United States.

If Venezuela wanted to truly achieve independence and control its own destiny, it would have to make the United States afraid to start a war against Venezuela.

Therefore, in order to deal with the US Air Force, Chavez strengthened the construction of air defense forces. In order to deal with the powerful US Navy, Chavez continued to introduce "Eagle Strike" anti-ship missiles.

These weapons were fully demonstrated in the Libyan War, the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, and the Iraq War.

"Zhou, we want to send another group of officers to study abroad in your country. We need your help." Chavez said.

Zhou Zhenguo smiled and said, "No problem, Chavez!"

Since Chavez came to power, he has sent a group of students to study in China every year, including a group to study in the Chinese military academy.

Zhou Zhenguo knew the policy and naturally had no problem with this.

Three groups of students sent by Chavez have graduated and are middle-level officers in Venezuela.

China is too far away from Venezuela. There are no contradictions between the two sides, only interests.

In this case, the two sides can cooperate for mutual benefit.

There are many areas in which China can cooperate, covering politics, economy, culture, military and other fields.

It would be best if South America could develop, and even more countries want to develop and become stronger.

Because the first to bear the brunt is the United States. Would the United States be willing to see South America develop?

How is it possible!

Because any country that develops will not want to be manipulated, and will want to be the master of the house.

This is a pair of contradictions, and it is also an open conspiracy.

Therefore, in recent years, Panshan Group has invested in and built many factories in South America, and many Chinese companies have also invested in and built factories in South America. Both sides are completely based on win-win cooperation.

The development of South America and the expansion of the market will only benefit the trade between the two sides.

As South American countries develop, in order to strengthen military power construction, they must purchase weapons and equipment, strengthen military training, and improve military command capabilities. These are all markets.

Similarly, the expansion of the civilian market will obviously enhance bilateral trade. (End of this chapter)