MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New arsenal for Venezuela.

The US military's senior officer responsible for security co-operation in Latin America has warned of the destabilising potential posed to the region by the Venezuelan government's controversial, and opaque, arms procurement programme.

Hugo Chávez, the president of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has begun signing contracts to buy an array of weapons to revamp his defences to thwart what he claims could be outside "aggression".

Such fears were intensified two weeks ago when Venezuelan officials were alarmed by the presence of US warships and marines near Curaçao, off Venezuela. US officials said it was a routine manoeuvre.

Equipment ranging from 50 latest-generation Mig-29 warplanes to dozens of helicopter gunships, 100,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles and a fleet of naval vessels, have all been reported as imminent deliveries to Venezuela's new arsenal.

General Bantz Craddock, the commander-in-chief of the US Southern Command, said Venezuela's arms-procurement plan was a worry because the motive was unclear, raising concern among its Latin American neighbours.

"We are wondering just what the intent here is," Gen Craddock said in an interview. "If it is for sovereign defence, obviously each nation can do their own, and as well they should in terms of protecting their sovereignty and their national boundaries."

But Gen Craddock, who is scheduled to testify before the Senate's armed forces committee tomorrow, said it was unclear if the end-user of some of the weapons, in particular the 100,000 rifles, really was Venezuela.

"If it is to export instability that is a different situation," he said. "We are concerned about that and we would like that not to happen."

US defence officials are especially concerned that once the rifles are delivered, there is a high risk that other weapons or ammunition from Venezuela could fall into the hands of Colombian guerrillas who are seeking to overthrow President Alvaro Uribe, Washington's main ally in the region.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, have long received guns and ammunition from rogue factions within governments in neighbouring countries.

Vladimiro Montesinos, Peru's spymaster under former president Alberto Fujimori, is alleged to have arranged the delivery of 10,000 Kalashnikovs to the Farc as part of a covert operation when he was in power.

However, US officials are less concerned about Mr Chávez's apparent plans to acquire Mig-29s from Russia. "Most up here figure this would be a colossal waste of money for Chávez as he likely couldn't keep these things in the air very long," said a US military officer. Venezuela already has US-built F-16s and French Mirages but defence analysts believe that few are operational.

Some US officials are more concerned by what they see as the lack of financial transparency in the negotiation of the arms deals than by the bellicose capability of the arms themselves. Price tags ranging up to $5bn (?3.7bn, £2.6bn) have been reported as the total cost of Mr Chávez's oil-financed defence spending spree, yet none of the purchases has yet been debated in Venezuela's legislature.

"It's an orgy of corruption," said Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs at the US Department of Defense.

Mr Chávez responded last month that the US had no moral authority to make such complaints because it "lied" about the existence of weapons of mass destruction as the principal justification for the invasion of Iraq.

■ Venezuela's government will expropriate land belonging to the Vestey Group, the British-owned meat producer, and an animal reserve, among other properties, saying that the private owners did not have legitimate claims, AP reports in Caracas. The National Lands Institute said it would take over a total of 96,440 hectares of land and give it to the poor.

The government will take over all of El Charcote Ranch, a cattle ranch belonging to an affiliate of the Vestey Group, an animal reserve, Pinero Ranch, and a third privately owned ranch, El Coco. None of the owners could be reached on Sunday. It was not clear when the government would take possession of the lands.