Politics
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a British research institute focusing on international security, said on Wednesday that Russia has become the main exporter of weapons to Latin America thanks to the purchases made by Venezuela in the past year.

The increase is partly due to the restrictions on arms sales imposed by the United States, traditionally the main supplier of arms to the region, on several countries, including Venezuela. The US considers that those countries are not cooperating enough to fight terrorism.

However, two of the countries with the largest defense budgets, Colombia and Mexico, remain faithful to US military arms, while other countries have "diversified suppliers."

The report says that Russia, which was the world's second largest arms supplier in 2008, has signed military agreements with Venezuela, Peru, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

Venezuela, which in 2007 became the second largest buyer of Russian weapons, bought in recent years military equipment worth USD 4 billion, said the report.