If there is anything that Cuba’s Castro regime envies of its Venezuelan colony, it would be its toys of repression. Dictator Hugo Chavez made quite an investment in sophisticated weaponry designed to violently oppress and murder dissenters and protestors. As for Cuba, they tend to use the old-school method of violent repression: Clubs, machetes, rocks, bottles, steel-toed boots, and good old-fashioned beat downs.
Juan Carlos Gabaldon in Caracas Chronicles:
The Toys of Repression
Military-style gear is one thing the regime’s never scrimped on. The trend started by Hugo Chávez in 2005 renewed Venezuela’s military gear, supposedly to prepare for battle against the countless imaginary enemies chavismo created through the years. But really, we always knew who the real target was, because it stared back at us from the mirror each morning.
Initially, the Chávez administration sourced its war toys from traditional suppliers like the United States. But after 2006, when an embargo on military material was applied to Venezuela, Chávez started asking his friends from the East for guns. First it was Russia, later China. Some of these contracts were, ironically, signed by then-Defense Minister, Raúl Baduel; today one of Maduro’s highest profile political prisoners.
Even as the economic crisis hit hard, forcing the Maduro government to reduce its military expenses —by more than 90% compared to the Chávez years, according to some NGOs, — they continued the “Eternal Commander’s” tradition. That’s why, in a country where food and medicines are nowhere to be seen, there’s a squad of armored personnel carriers (APCs), fully equipped with tear gas canisters and rubber pellets, waiting for every march and protest to reach them.
Armored Vehicles: APC’s (a.k.a., “Tanquetas”)
If you’ve taken part in any of the countless demonstrations that have taken place in Venezuela since La Salida, then you’ve seen one of these little white monsters. People call them “rhinos” or tanquetas — but that’s a bit of a misnomer. A vehicle would have to have a gun turret to qualify as a combat-ready tanqueta.
Its official designation is the VN-4 armored vehicle, manufactured in China by the Chinese Defense Company, NORINCO. Unlike most people tend to think, they are quite modern and versatile, able to carry two drivers and up to eight soldiers inside, reaching up to 115 km/h and being able to go for about 700 km. without refueling.
VN-4s can do a lot of damage. The original, warfare-oriented units have a central turret that is usually armed with a 7,5 mm. heavy machine gun. The units deployed in Venezuelan protests, however, have been modified for riot-control purposes with the machine gun being replaced for a more “friendly” tear-gas launcher. The little white beasts can also be equipped with several Bond-like gadgets, including an infrared night-vision system and a central tire inflation system that prevents them from being disabled by a flat tire. These perks, however, are optional, and we doubt if Baduel sprung extra for those.
Out of the 224 VN-4’s that China has officially exported worldwide, 194 were bought by the Venezuelan government and distributed mainly to the GNB. 121 of them were bought in 2012, while the rest were ordered after the 2014 protests.
Kenya, a country actually fighting real terrorists in their border with Somalia, bought the remaining 30.
The VN-4s are already an iconic image of repression against opposition demonstrators. These things are now so popular around the country that there are even mods to use them in Grand Theft Auto video games.One of the perks of having a millennial core of protesters, I guess.
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