Bolivia Fires General Over U.S. Destruction of Missiles

[GAFES]

Bolivia Fires General Over U.S. Destruction of Missiles


LA PAZ, Bolivia — Outgoing President Eduardo Rodriguez fired Bolivia's army chief on Tuesday over his decision to have 28 Chinese shoulder-launched missiles destroyed in the United States.

Gen. Marcelo Antezana later appeared on Bolivian television to say Rodriguez had made a "bad interpretation" of his role in the October destruction of the missiles, which led to accusations of treason by Evo Morales, then a presidential candidate.

Morales — who later won elections in December — revealed the destruction of the missiles by the United States and said it had left Bolivia with almost no air defense.

Rodriguez said he made the decision to destroy the missiles on the recommendation of the United Nations and the Organization of American States after receiving information from the army that they were obsolete and a safety hazard.

Morales' Movement Toward Socialism Party filed a suit against Rodriguez in October, with some members claiming the missiles were in working condition. Party members have distanced themselves from the suit in recent weeks.

The United States has been campaigning to rid Latin America of portable arms that could fall into the hands of terrorists. A State Department spokesman earlier said Bolivia requested U.S. help in removing the deteriorating Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles.

On Tuesday, government news agency ABI reported that Rodriguez would make a formal inquiry with the U.S. Embassy to investigate their role in the matter.

The firing comes as Rodriguez, a caretaker president appointed after the resignation of Carlos Mesa in June, prepares to hand power to Morales this Sunday.

[Resurrection]

Uhmm... their whole air defence consisted of a couple of MANPADS? And Chinese ones at that?

[stuntman]

^LOL thats exactly what I was thinking while scrolling down to read your post..

[Greek soldier]

Uhmm... their whole air defence consisted of a couple of MANPADS? And Chinese ones at that?

Hey Resurrection, SAAB has the BAMSE family. What about selling some to Bolivia??

[Resurrection]

Lol I've always liked BAMSE, Bamse is the name of a famous Swedish cartoon bear. When he eats honey, he becomes strong. :D

http://www.ccs-se.com/bilder/img_bamse_start.gif


But I seriously doubt Bolivia could afford an RBS 23 unit if their entire air defence was previously mostly made up of 28 obsolete, Chinese MANPADS. :lol: How much do they spend on their defence?

[GAFES]

I can understand the anger of the bolivians. Their military is very poor, and keeps getting worst with no air defense, considering that they are enemies with Chile wich by the way has new F-16s in their inventory.

[Greek soldier]

Well, if the Bolivian president decides to make the same move like Chavez (turn to Europe to buy weapons, France and Russia are the most likely sources, maybe also Sweden and Germany), you think they don't have the money to do so??

[Resurrection]

You can forget a Swedish missile export if Bolivia is currently involved in a conflict. There are ways however to get around that, like for example with Bofors guns in India.

[khukuri]

IF the missiles were working he should get jailed for treason

[uhramechi]

Well, if the Bolivian president decides to make the same move like Chavez (turn to Europe to buy weapons, France and Russia are the most likely sources, maybe also Sweden and Germany), you think they don't have the money to do so??

i dont think so they dont have enough money, or the oil income that chavez have


IF the missiles were working he should get jailed for treason

sadly you have right If really working, but i dont think so, the bolivian army have in the past many lack of money for maintenaice.



I can understand the anger of the bolivians. Their military is very poor, and keeps getting worst with no air defense, considering that they are enemies with Chile wich by the way has new F-16s in their inventory


if you wanna know about the situation of thebolivian armed forces you can visit this website http://www.fab-extraoficial.tk/

maybe the bolivian in weapons are very poor, but they have many patriotism to balanced the situation. ( i think) bye

[GazB]

Would suggest replacing MANPADs with MANPADs.
No point getting into debt for something there is not proof there is an urgent need for.
If they had 28 Chinese MANPADs then why not buy, say 40 or so Modern MANPADs like Igla-1 (SA-16). A very capable missile though not state of the art (ie Igla-S). Actually a purchase of Igla-S would actually be better as it is not only much more capable but also comes with a computer simulation system that allows your troops to practise without launching real missiles.
No point having them if you don't practise with them.

[Resurrection]

Personally I think they should put some money into getting some long-medium range air defence units. Any Russian suggestions?

[pepe]

Definitely they need medium air defence missiles, the manpads are just too short range, they need to cover their radarless border with chile, wich is where there have been several incursions by military aircraft from Chile, I'm sure this will increase when they get their f-16 wich they are basing right off near the border by the way.

[Resurrection]

Yup, I agree. So the questions now are:

1) From what country can Bolivia purchase such missile units?
2) Can Bolivia even afford them?

[pepe]

Yup, I agree. So the questions now are:

1) From what country can Bolivia purchase such missile units?
2) Can Bolivia even afford them?

Bolivia has bought armaments from China and israel recently, they have a paltry defence budget around 150 mil, This is due to change by a law wich will set a side a percentage of gas sale proceeds to defence, im sure they will be able to in the future, but they have many needs not just AA defence.

[GAFES]

They have the ''GAS''. Lots of countries want some of it ( including my country). Probably in the near future they will be able to get some nice toys. WIth Chile building a powerful military,considering the military standards in South America, they must be concerned about it.


Here is one of their ''secret'' acquisitions recently known to the public:

The Chinese HJ-8 AT missile. Consideres similar to the US TOW, and superior to the MILAN AT missile.

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/7779/hj8b2wx.jpg