Venezuela leads LA in reducing military expenditure

SIPRI said Venezuela had much reduced its military spending in 2009.

In total volume of military spending compared to the rest of Latin America, "Venezuela occupies fifth place with US $3.254 billion, a quarter less than the money it spent toward this end in 2008," reported EFE in reference to the report.

Brazil increased its military spending more than any other Latin American country, allocating a total of US $27.1 billion in 2009, an increase of 16%. Brazil was followed by Colombia, whose military expenditure increased by 11%.

SIPRI indicated that Colombia is the country in the region that directs the most money toward military spending as a percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with 3.7%.

Colombia's spending is two tenths of one percent above Chile, which occupies second place in spending as a percentage of the GDP, ahead of Ecuador with 2.8%, Brazil with 1.5%, Venezuela with 1.4%, and Uruguay with 1.3%.

The Americas was the region which spent the most money on arms in 2009, due to the presence of the United States, which piled up US $661 billion, 43% of the world total.

The data supplied by SIPRI contradicts the matrix of opinion generated by the large, right-wing international media which have insisted that Venezuela "is in an arms race."