Belarus president offers to help Venezuela strengthen military defenses to deter threats

Belarus offers closer military ties with Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered to help Venezuela strengthen its military, saying Tuesday that President Hugo Chavez’s government should not have to worry about foreign threats.

Addressing lawmakers inside Venezuela’s National Assembly, Lukashenko said Belarus hopes to “share the experience of creating an integrated defense system.”

Chavez, a former paratroop commander who has built close ties with Lukashenko, has expressed interest in buying radar and anti-aircraft missiles from the former Soviet republic to bolster Venezuela’s air defenses.

Lukashenko did not provide details on what type of support Belarus could provide, saying only that his government could help fortify Venezuela’s defenses “in the short term” and enable Venezuelans “to live peacefully without having to be looking from side to side” for potential threats.

Venezuela has significantly increased military spending under Chavez, who has turned to allies such as Russia and China for arms while accusing the United States of plotting against him.

Chavez and Lukashenko share similarly hostile stances toward Washington. U.S. officials, in turn, have repeatedly raised concerns over growing authoritarianism and the gradual deterioration of democratic freedoms in both Venezuela and Belarus.

Lukashenko did not single out Washington as an adversary during Tuesday’s speech, but he hinted the U.S. is among a group of powerful countries that “attempt to impose their will” on other nations by lecturing them on “human rights, democracy and freedom.”

“Together, we can counter this threat,” he said.

Later, Lukashenko and Chavez toured a housing project that Belarus is helping to build in Venezuela’s northwestern Aragua state.