I am afraid this blog is becoming a bit like a magazine about military material. I am having to learn more about weapons than I care to.
Colombian magazine Semana reports (in Spanish) a bout an ugly finding: the Colombian army raided a couple of FARC camps and discovered, among other things, several AT4s. Those are very powerful anti-tank weapons from Sweden. The Colombians contacted the Swedish embassy and submitted the serial numbers of the rockets to find out how they came up there. It turns out that Sweden had sold those rockets to the Venezuelan government a few years ago. FARC is a terrorist organization, also in the eyes of the European Union.
The Swedish company that sells those weapons said it was an unfortunate incident as they "follow Swedish and international regulations", but that the issue was beyond their control as they sold those weapons to the Venezuelan army. I ask: what are the consequences the EU has to take?
UPDATE 1
The Swedish government is now demanding explanations from the Venezuelan government on how those weapons ended up in the hands of the FARC.
UPDATE 2
And now the Minister of Interior and "Justice" in Venezuela, Tarek Al-Aissami, declared it was all lies and the Colombians were just producing a "media show" that looked like a "bad US movie". I suppose he will say Mr Jens Erikssons from the Swedish government is also lying. The Swedish have decided to stop ALL WEAPON EXPORTS TO VENEZUELA! Read the article in Dagens Nyheter here if you understand Swedish.
Among other things, that Swedish article says this:
Colombian magazine Semana reports (in Spanish) a bout an ugly finding: the Colombian army raided a couple of FARC camps and discovered, among other things, several AT4s. Those are very powerful anti-tank weapons from Sweden. The Colombians contacted the Swedish embassy and submitted the serial numbers of the rockets to find out how they came up there. It turns out that Sweden had sold those rockets to the Venezuelan government a few years ago. FARC is a terrorist organization, also in the eyes of the European Union.
The Swedish company that sells those weapons said it was an unfortunate incident as they "follow Swedish and international regulations", but that the issue was beyond their control as they sold those weapons to the Venezuelan army. I ask: what are the consequences the EU has to take?
UPDATE 1
The Swedish government is now demanding explanations from the Venezuelan government on how those weapons ended up in the hands of the FARC.
UPDATE 2
And now the Minister of Interior and "Justice" in Venezuela, Tarek Al-Aissami, declared it was all lies and the Colombians were just producing a "media show" that looked like a "bad US movie". I suppose he will say Mr Jens Erikssons from the Swedish government is also lying. The Swedish have decided to stop ALL WEAPON EXPORTS TO VENEZUELA! Read the article in Dagens Nyheter here if you understand Swedish.
Among other things, that Swedish article says this:
- Jan-Erik Lövgren, Deputy Director General of the Inspectorate of Strategic Products (ISP) declares Sweden has now stopped weapons export to Venezuela.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is discussing right now with Venezuela and Colombia how the FARC could get hold of those weapons.
- The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Association says Sweden has sold 474 million kroner to Venezuela in the past 9 years.