Chávez flies over Manuel Ríos Aerospace Base

On a Russian helicopter, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Wednesday flew over the Captain Manuel Ríos Bolivarian Aerospace Base, located in El Sombrero, Guárico state, central Venezuela.

Chávez was accompanied by Minister of Defense General Henry Rangel Silva, Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro and the commander of the aerospace base, General Carlos Flores.

During the aerial tour, Chávez asked Flores to speed up the works to overhaul the runway, which is a project currently under way pursuant to an agreement with Belarus companies.

"I want the projects, sums and management of resources soon in my hands for rapid execution," the Venezuelan president asked both Flores and Rangel Silva.

Addressing Maduro, Chávez said that the air base was "hopeless and abandoned," but added that it was revamped because the revolution that is under way in Venezuela "is giving birth to new things, to innovation."