The National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief and the Minister of Defense. In addition to the army, navy, and air force there is also a national guard and national militia primarily focused on internal security.
China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group, and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited, is a Chinese state-owned defense corporation that manufactures commercial and military products. Norinco Group is one of the world's largest defense contractors.
The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 2012 and is dependent on Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. SEBIN has been described as the political police force of the Bolivarian government.
The Cadillac Gage Commando, frequently denoted as the M706 in U.S. military service, is an American armored car designed to be amphibious. It was engineered by Cadillac Gage specifically for the United States Military Police Corps during the Vietnam War as an armed convoy escort vehicle. The Commando was one of the first vehicles to combine the traditionally separate roles of an armored personnel carrier and a conventional armored car, much like the Soviet BTR-40. Its notable height, amphibious capability, and waterproofed engine allowed American crews to fight effectively in the jungles of Vietnam by observing their opponents over thick vegetation and fording the country's deep rivers.
The WZ-551 is a Chinese wheeled infantry fighting vehicle family. The name WZ-551 actually covers two families of vehicles with the official designations in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Type 90 and Type 92. Over 3,000 WZ-551s are in service with the PLA, where they are used by medium mechanized infantry units.
The Cobra is a family of armored vehicles produced by Otokar of Turkey. It is produced in two generations.
The Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela, is a gendarmerie component of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. The national guard can serve as gendarmerie, perform civil defense roles, or serve as a reserve light infantry force. The national guard was founded on 4 August 1937 by the then President of the Republic, General-in-Chief Eleazar López Contreras. The motto of the GNB is "El Honor es su divisa", slightly different from the motto of the Spanish Civil Guard "El Honor es mi divisa".
The Venezuelan Bolivarian Marine Corps are known as the Bolivarian Marine Infantry or formally as the Marine Division "General Simon Bolivar" and is part of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela. Its motto is: Valor y Lealtad.
The Type 05 amphibious armored vehicle is a family of amphibious tracked armored fighting vehicles developed by Norinco for the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps, consisting of two main combat variants — the ZBD-05 infantry fighting vehicle and the ZTD-05 assault vehicle, as well as several support variants based on the ZBD-05. The Type 05s could be launched at sea from an amphibious assault ship over the horizon, and features a hydroplane, a design concept that has been compared to the cancelled United States Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) program.
The Dongfeng EQ2050 is a Chinese-made armored vehicle based on the Humvee, manufactured for government use by the Dongfeng Motor Group. It is known to be sold by the company for 700,000 Yuan ($93,000). The vehicle was created after People's Liberation Army (PLA) officials saw the Humvee deployed in the Gulf War. While it is used in the PLA, it has also been exported to friendly countries for military use.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission for South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (2011).
The Puma M26-15 4x4 is an armored personnel carrier (APC) with mine and improvised explosive device (IED) protection. The main users are military, police and security companies during peacekeeping operations. The Puma M26 was designed by OTT Technologies, a South African firm linked to DynCorp International. It is manufactured in South Africa and Mozambique.
The VT-4, also known as the MBT-3000, is a Chinese third generation main battle tank built by Norinco for overseas export.
The Type 08 is a family of eight-wheeled amphibious, modular armored vehicle developed by Norinco for infantry fire support, battlefield logistics, and quick reaction operations. Developed in the early 2000s, the modern Chinese vehicle family were produced for more than 6000 hulls and widely deployed by the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and People's Liberation Army Marine Corps.
Colectivos are far-left Venezuelan armed paramilitary groups that support Nicolás Maduro, the Bolivarian government, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) political alliance and the ruling party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Colectivo has become an umbrella term for irregular armed groups that operate in poverty-stricken areas and attack individuals, engaging in "extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking and murder". They commit extrajudicial killings and terrorize those who disagree with them with impunity.
On 14 April 2013 Nicolás Maduro was elected President of Venezuela, narrowly defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles with just 1.5% of the vote separating the two candidates. Capriles immediately demanded a recount, refusing to recognize the outcome as valid. Maduro was later formally inaugurated as President on 19 April, after the election commission had promised a full audit of the election results. On 24 October 2013, he announced the creation of a new agency, the Vice Ministry of Supreme Happiness, to coordinate all the social programmes.
The 2017 Venezuelan protests began in late January following the abandonment of Vatican-backed dialogue between the Bolivarian government and the opposition. The series of protests originally began in February 2014 when hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans protested due to high levels of criminal violence, inflation, and chronic scarcity of basic goods because of policies created by the Venezuelan government though the size of protests had decreased since 2014. Following the 2017 Venezuelan constitutional crisis, protests began to increase greatly throughout Venezuela.
The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's government.
On 27 June 2017, there was an incident involving a police helicopter at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) and Interior Ministry in Caracas, Venezuela. Claiming to be a part of an anti-government coalition of military, police and civilians, the occupants of the helicopter allegedly launched several grenades and fired at the building, although no one was injured or killed. President Nicolás Maduro called the incident a "terrorist attack". The helicopter escaped and was found the next day in a rural area. On 15 January 2018, Óscar Pérez, the pilot and instigator of the incident, was killed during a military raid by the Venezuelan army that was met with accusations of extrajudicial killing.
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