As a result of Bush sanctions against Venezuela, including the denial of spares on the F-16 fleet, Chávez has moved toward acquiring Russian equipment.

Now, he is purchasing a large quantity of Dragunov sniper rifles.

The Dragunov is a derived for the AK-47 with a scope, and while it underperforms designed from scratch sniper rifles, it is simple, more accurate than an assault rifle, and more powerful (it uses a full rifle round). Realistic use is out to about 600m according to wiki.

“Sales like this, and other sales of military equipment and arms to Venezuela, don’t seem consistent with Venezuela’s needs,” David J. Kramer, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said by telephone.

“It does raise questions about their ultimate use,” he added. “We’re not sure what their purpose would be.”

It took me 5 seconds to realize that this is intended to for a number of things:

• Deter the US from invading because by increasing casualties.
• Deterring the Venezualan Army from staging a coup for the same reasons.

Of course, I’m not a blithering idiot Bush administration official, so I can spot the obvious.

Mark Joyce, the Americas editor for Jane’s Country Risk, part of Jane’s Information Group, said that a purchase of thousands of sniper rifles would fit with the continuing military reorganization in Venezuela under Mr. Chávez.

The changes emphasize large civilian reserve forces, which bypass the traditional military chain of command and report directly to Mr. Chávez and could become the core of a domestic guerrilla force if Venezuela were invaded.