Venezuela's military and politics

Oppenheimer is on a roll, with five or six columns in the past month that I've completely agreed with (and I'm sure that's exactly how the famous Latin American columnist measures success :)

Yesterday he wrote about the politicizing of Venezuela's military and the training of left-wing paramilitary units.

If Chavez means to do half of what he says, his transformation of Venezuela's armed forces -- and distribution of weapons to civilians -- will haunt Venezuela for decades to come, no matter how long he stays in power or who succeeds him.

While I've written previously that I think the threat from Chavez to the greater Latin American region is a bit exaggerated, this threat to Venezuela is not. Chavez is arming and training hundreds of thousands of supporters in paramilitary tactics. He claims it is to fight off an alleged US invasion. But if even a small percentage of these Chavista paramilitaries are radical enough to take up arms once he leaves power, it could create a very dangerous situation in Venezuela.