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http://lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/south_america_pol98.jpg

Columbia and Venezuela are neighbors, so a war between them is easy. Columbia and Honduras are US allies, so Honduras MAY attempt to lend some aid to Columbia, but how are they gonna get there? Nicaragua's dictator may come to help his butt-buddy Chavez, but again, how is he going to get there? It's not like most of South America has anything resembling a real navy.

Cuba might get involved on Venezuela's behalf, but yet again, how the fuck do they get there?


Let's see how their respective militaries stack up.


Venezuela:

Infantry are fairly well-armed. AK-103's, FAL's, AT4's, Carl Gustav's, Israeli ATGM's, FN Minimi's and Mag's (M249 and M240, basically), and Dragunov SVD's (brilliant move, having both 7.62x51 and 7.62x54R in your inventory, Chavez. ).

Armor is fairly decent for a tinpot dictator. Nowhere near as massive in terms of numbers as the Middle Eastern shitholes, but the technology, training, and maintenance are far superior.

84 AMX-30 MBT's, 36 AMX-13 light tanks with 90mm guns, 78 FV101 Scorpion light tanks with 90mm guns (instead of the UK 76mm guns), 42 Dragoon armored cars, and around 400 APC's of one sort or another. It's interesting to note that Venezuela has 135 BMP-3 IFV's on order and 92 T-72 MBT's (why T-72's? They couldn't afford T-90's?) on order, but they haven't taken delivery of either yet. I would think Chavez would hold off on starting shit with his neighbors until AFTER he had significantly boosted his military, but then that would imply that Chavez wasn't a fucking idiot.

Venezuela has over 120 howitzers, mostly 105mm but some 155mm too, 10 self-propelled howitzers (155), 25 self-propelled 160mm multiple rocket artillery, 60 120mm mortar, and an unknown number of BM-30 Smerch self-propelled multiple rocket artillery on order. Again, you'd think he'd wait until AFTER he got all the shit he has on layaway before starting something.

They have several dozen helicopters, mostly transports and recon, but a couple of them could be set up as gunships (Hips and Hueys), they have 10 Hind gunships as their heavy helicopter support, and 10 Havoc gunships are on order. Supposedly four will be delivered this year. Still again, you would think Chavez would wait until he had everything he ordered delivered before starting shit. I guess the handful of Russian ships capable of making the journey to visit Venezuela without sinking or needing a tow back home gave Chavez more confidence in his allies than is wise.

The Venezuelan navy doesn't suck too terribly. 6 missile frigates, 2 diesel-electric submarines, 6 missile patrol boats, and four ampibious ships. He has three diesel-electric submarines on order from Russia and four Spanish-made frigates supposed to be delivered next year, so again, why is Chavez starting shit NOW instead of waiting until AFTER he has a significant increase in military capability?

Their air force is tiny but more advanced than the shit most of the Middle East flies. 24 Su-30 fighters (and Chavez is supposedly working on arrangements to order 24 more), 21 F-16's (only 12 operational), 18 CF-5's (12 operational), 12 Dassault Mirage 50's (retired, but still in the inventory), and the rest of their air force consists of transports and VIP passenger planes.

Their coast guard has a bunch of patrol boats and for the umpteenth time, is scheduled to receive more ships but Chavez is starting shit before receiving them. Their marine corps consists of less than 9,000 men and they have only armored cars, jeeps, and about thirty howitzers, so who gives a shit.



Columbia (or Colombia, whichever you prefer), meanwhile...

Their infantry are armed with M-16's, M-4's, Galils, Tavors, G3's, M-60's, M-240's, M-249's, M2HB's, and other shit. AT4's, RPG-22's, and M72 LAWs abound, so the Venezuelans have a slight edge in man-portable blow-shit-up weapons, but that's fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. They have more ATGM's than Venezuela, that is significant.

They've got about as many APC's as Venezuela. Doing some searching, I find zero references to Columbia owning any tanks. WTF. Their artillery is just as good, but less diverse, and I can't numbers on how many they own, just what models they have.

They've got fewer helicopters than Venezuela, but they tend to be more modern designs. Their only "gunships" are sixteen MD 500 Defenders. Yeeeaaaah.

They have non-jet fighters designed for "counterinsurgency/drug patrols" that are armed. 25 Super Tucanos, 11 Broncos, 6 AC-47 Spooky's, and 9 A-37 Dragonfly's (supposed to have been retired last year.).

Jet fighters are 15 IAI Kfir's and 12 Mirage 5's. Not exactly an even match for Su-30's and F-16's that outnumber them.

Their navy has 4 frigates, 4 submarines, and a shitload of patrol boats and amphibious ships, more than Venezuela has. Which makes sense since their main job would be going after drug traffickers.


Yeeeeaaaaah. I'm think Columbia ISN'T going to mop the floor with Venezuela's ass in this one, even without Chavez waiting to take delivery of all the hardware he ordered from Russia. No tanks, shitty air force that is also outnumbered, smaller navy, no helicopter gunships except for armed little birds.... They seem a lot more professional and disciplined than the Venezuelans, but I'm thinking that's only going to result in a draw at best.

If this turns into a shooting war, I'm betting it turns into another prolonged conflict ala the Iran-Iraq War and eventually the rest of South America gets dragged into it. Especially if the Russians aid Venezuela and Obama sits around with his thumb up his ass hoping the problem will go away if he ignores it long enough.

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Nobama will sit with his thumb up his ass while chavez starts a regional war in central america.  Chavez, an idiot,  is hoping that he will achieve quick military gains before we enter in and force a Venezualan favorable peace treaty.  More likely, even with russian, chineese, north korean, and iranian help, he will have his own little dick shoved up his ass by the better trained and equiped Columbians and Nobama will have to rush in and save his fellow communist buddy.

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It's my understanding that Colombia will wipe the floor with Venezuala militarily, so this might get interesting,


I wonder how long it would take Obongo to surrender to Chavez on behalf of the Colombians?

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Checked with my co-worker from Venezuela to see what the inside scoop is.  The Venezuelan government is reporting that the two foot-bridges were destroyed because they were being used by the FARC for getting into and out of Venezuela from southern Colombia.  The FARC takes pot shots at Venezuelan guard posts on the border all the time.

It is Plausible.

Any possibility of Columbia securing the services of outside contractors like X/E and any number of others to supplement their military?

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What he said.....english motherfucker....do you speak it?

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Colombia is always at war with the leftists and cartels.

Has been for decades.