Venezuela ARMED FORCES ORGANIZATION, TRAINING, AND EQUIPMENT
Figure 10. Structure of the Armed Forces, 1990
Figure 11. Officer Ranks and Insignia, 1990
Figure 12. Enlisted Ranks and Insignia, 1990
Army troops with riot-control helmets and Uzi submachine
guns
Courtesy Embassy of Venezuela, Washington
Inmates at the San Juan de los Morros Penitentiary gathering
corn
Courtesy United Nations (J. Littlewood)
According to Article 190 of the constitution of 1961,
the
president serves as commander in chief of the National
Armed
Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Nacionales--FAN). The day-to-day
administration of the FAN, however, falls to the minister
of
national defense, traditionally a senior general officer.
Other
officials with responsibilities for the entire FAN were
the FAN's
inspector general and comptroller general.
The National Security and Defense Council, established
in the
1970s, functioned as a planning and advisory body for the
president on military and security matters. Its membership
included the minister of national defense, the minister of
interior, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of
finance, the inspector general of the FAN, the chief of
the joint
general staff of the FAN, and other ministers designated
by the
president. The council recommended policy to the
president,
prepared measures for its implementation, drafted
mobilization
and demobilization orders, and coordinated the defense
efforts of
national, state, and local authorities. The president
appointed a
permanent secretary of the council, who administered a
political
committee, an economic committee, a social committee, a
military
committee, a mobilization committee, and other committees
that
might be created by the president. The National
Intelligence
Service was a functional department of the council.
The military chain of command extended downward from
the
president to the minister of national defense to the
commanders
of the individual services
(see
fig. 10). The Superior
Board of
the FAN was a purely military organization that advised
the
president, the National Security and Defense Council, and
the
Ministry of National Defense on security and defense
matters. The
board consisted of the minister of national defense, the
inspector general, the chief of the Joint General Staff,
and the
service commanders. The chief of the Joint General Staff
acted as
the secretary of the board. The approval of the board was
required for major weapons acquisitions.
The Joint General Staff of the FAN did not exercise
operational control over the services. It functioned as an
advisory body and as the planning organ of the National
Defense
Ministry under the direction of the minister of national
defense
and the Superior Board. The Joint General Staff prepared
strategic planning, logistics, intelligence, training, and
educational policies and plans for the entire FAN. It did
not
have budget authority, however; each branch of service
handled
its own budget planning.
The assets of the FAN were assigned and deployed in
five
geographically defined military regions, which functioned
as
unified commands. Most of the forces were deployed in
Military
Region One, headquartered in Caracas. Military Regions
Two,
Three, Four, and Five were headquartered in San Cristóbal,
Maracaibo, San Fernando, and Ciudad Bolívar, respectively.
All
air and naval assets were located in either region one or
region
two (San Cristóbal).
Data as of December 1990
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