VENEZUELA: The chaos of armed conflict rattled Venezuela's rundown harbour area this week as troops and residents practised resisting a potential invasion that President Hugo Chavez says the White House has planned.
Mock foreign aggressors in Engesa tanks trundled past wrecked houses near the Caribbean coast, only to be greeted by an ambush of "resistance" fighters unleashing a barrage of gunfire and explosions that echoed through the neighbourhood.
"We're creating a doctrine so there is better preparation between the troops and the people in case of an invasion or whatever else," said Marine Lieut José Pinto, wearing a Chicago Bulls basketball team T-shirt and a grenade on his belt.
Mr Chavez has ordered his armed forces and civilian reservists to prepare for a guerrilla war against US forces which he says are seeking to control Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
This year he acquired new Russian-made Kalashnikov rifles and attack helicopters and he is seeking Russian jets after US officials banned sales of US hardware as ties between Washington and Caracas frayed.
Since his 1998 election, Mr Chavez has moved Venezuela away from its traditional political reliance on the United States. After surviving a coup in 2002, he has remained popular after spending billions of dollars in oil revenues on health and education programmes for the poor as part of his self-styled socialist revolution.
"We have to be prepared for war while we are in peace," said local defence committee member Freddy Amaya. - (Reuters)