Chavez worries US Joint Chiefs chairman

The United States is deeply worried by what it deems a dangerous arms buildup by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, the top American military officer said Thursday.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told reporters after meeting with top Colombian defense officials that Venezuela's buying of high-performance military aircraft, modern submarines and other items is potentially destabilizing for a region that already is struggling with insurgencies, terrorism and drug running.

"They certainly are of great concern," Mullen said, referring to the weapons, "not just to Colombia — which has been expressed to me — but to the region and in fact very much to the United States."

The Bush administration has accused Chavez of seeking to foment terrorism and undercut democracies in the region. At a news conference at the Ministry of National Defense, Mullen was asked what he thought of Chavez's ties to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the main insurgent group that for years has controlled large parts of the country but now appears weakened.

Mullen said that while he is not aware of specific support given to the FARC by Chavez, he worries about Chavez granting "strategic support" for the FARC's methods, including narco-terrorism. He was not more specific.

"That kind of support is of great concern to me and to the leadership of the United States," Mullen said.

The admiral, making his first visit to Colombia as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said he was encouraged at the progress the Colombian government has made against the FARC in recent years, with U.S. aid. He later visited the Colombian military's war college to offer further encouragement to officers.

Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon, the chief of the Colombian armed forces, said at the news conference that his government has reached a decisive stage in reducing the capability of the FARC.

"This is the end game," Padilla said, according to an English translation of his remarks.

U.S. officials at Southern Command, the military headquarters responsible for U.S. military operations in Central and South America and Caribbean, said earlier this week that they believe the number of FARC forces has slipped from about 17,000 at its peak in about 2001 to about 10,000 now.

Mullen also visited the Colombian military's only rehabilitation center for severely wounded soldiers. He watched two groups of amputees play soccer in a yard outside the center and then met several patients. Colombian officials told him that, on average, one Colombian soldier is killed per day in the war against insurgents and at least three are wounded.