© Sputnik/ Mihail Mokrushin
"We are a people of peace; we want neither violence nor war," Maduro said, adding that the army, police and the people of Venezuela have to stay alert.
Venezuela is the largest weapons importer in Latin America, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Since 2011, the country spent some $2.6 billion on weapons, buying the majority of them in Russia.
In the period from 2012 to 2015 Venezuela is expected to become the second-largest importer of Russian weapons, with sales reaching up to $3.2 billion, Igor Korotchenko, head of the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, told RIA Novosti.
Venezuela and Russia's state-run arms trader Rosobornexport signed more than 30 contracts on arms supplies in 2005-2009. Venezuela received Russian air defense systems (Antey-2500, Pechora-2M, Buk and Igla) as well as T-72M tanks, Grad and Smerch multiple rocket launcher systems, armored vehicles and artillery.
Comment: It's a shame in order to have 'peace' they must spend massively on defense. That is also a lot of money the US defense contractors are losing because they don't like Maduro.