Venezuelan National Guard: Difference between revisions
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The VNG wears the same ranks and uniforms as the Venezuelan Army. |
The VNG wears the same ranks and uniforms as the Venezuelan Army. |
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The VNG is equipped as a light infantry force, with the standard [[FN FAL]] assault rifle (being replaced with the [[AK-103]]), light machine-guns, and mortars up to 81mm. |
The VNG is equipped as a light infantry force, with the standard [[FN FAL]] assault rifle (being replaced with the [[AK-103]]), light machine-guns, and mortars up to 81mm. |
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It possesses over forty [[Unimog]] [[Thyssen Henschel UR-416|UR-416]] wheeled armored personnel carriers and Walther G22 on airports |
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It possesses over forty [[Unimog]] [[Thyssen Henschel UR-416|UR-416]] wheeled armored personnel carriers and Walther G22 on airports. It aquired 141 Chinese [[VN4]] 4x4 wheeled armored vehicles in 2012, with more on order.<ref>[http://www.armyrecognition.com/march_2013_news_defence_army_military_industry_uk/national_guard_of_venezuela_will_receive_more_chinese-made_norinco_vn4_4x4_armoured_vehicles_1203134.html National Guard of Venezuela will receive more Chinese-made Norinco VN4 vehicles] - Armyrecognition.com, March 12, 2013</ref> |
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It also employs eighty small craft for its coastal and river patrol duties as part of its Naval Coastal Vigilance Command. |
It also employs eighty small craft for its coastal and river patrol duties as part of its Naval Coastal Vigilance Command. |
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Revision as of 18:52, 12 March 2013
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (January 2013) |
| Military of Venezuela | |
|---|---|
National Guard emblem | |
| Motto | El honor es su divisa (Honor is its emblem) |
| Service branches | Army National Guard Air National Guard Coastal Vigilance Command (Naval National Guard) Special Operations Command Group People's Guards Command |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 18 |
| Available for military service | 6,236,012, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Fit for military service | 4,907,947, age 15–49 (2005 est.) |
| Reaching military age annually | 252,396 (2005 est.) |
| Active personnel | Roughly 387,000 |
| Expenditure | |
| Budget | $1.7 billion (FY04) |
| Percent of GDP | 1.5% (FY04) |
The Venezuelan National Guard (Spanish: Guardia Nacional de Venezuela), also called the Armed Forces of Cooperation (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de Cooperación), is one of the four components 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 4 August 1937 by the then President of the Republic, Commander-in-Chief Eleazar López Contreras. The motto of the NG is "El Honor es su divisa" (Honor is its emblem), different from the motto of the Spanish Civil Guard.
Objectives
The premise of this military corps is defined in Article 329 of the National Constitution:
The Army, the Navy and Air Force have essential responsibility the planning, execution and control of the combat operations required to assure the national defense. The National Guard will cooperate in the development of these operations and will have like basic responsibility the direction of combat operations demanded for the internal maintenance of order of the country. The National Armed Forces will be able to exert the activities of administrative police and penal investigation that the law attributes to it.
Therefore, this one component fulfills the function to offer security and to defend the sovereignty of the Venezuelan national territory, as much internally as throughout its borders, working jointly with the Army, the Navy and Aviation. At the same time, it participates respectively in operative in internal security in collaboration with the state and municipal police bodies under the direction of the Ministry of the Popular Power for the Defense and the Ministry of the Popular Power of the Interior and Justice. Consequently, in case of disturbances or sackings, it acts to dissuade and to control the protests and other public disturbances.
Present situation
At the present time, the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has arranged for the National Guard to collaborate with the citizens in activities of cooperation, protection, security, defense and also in social programs or missions to benefit the population, according to the Constitution of 1999.
2012 marks the 75th Anniversary since the foundation of the National Guard in 1937.
Organization
Commando General de la Guardia Nacional (Headquarters, National Guard) - Caracas
- Commanding General, National Guard (as of 2012): Major General Juan Francisco Romero Figueroa
- General Staff of the National Guard
- Chief of Staff: Divisional General Alrio Jose Ramirez
- Inspector General's Command
- Inspector General of the National Guard: Divisional General Francisco José Ortega Castillo
- Logistics Command
- Commander, Logistics Command: Division General Gilberto Ramon Velazco Ramirez
- Air Operations Command (Air National Guard)
- Coastal Vigilance Command
- Operations Command
- Operations Director of the National Guard: Divisional General Orlando Alexis Rodríguez
Controls eight or more Mobile Detachments of battalion size available for deployment to any area of the country in response to threats to internal security or border security
- Three regional commands which control local battalion-sized detachments which provide static defense of certain public buildings, oil installations, and penal institutions. Additionally, they patrol the nation's highway system, functioning as a federal highway police force.
- San Antonio de Tachira in the western Andean Region,
- Maracaibo, and
- Caracas
- National Guard Frontier Detachments
- National Guard Public Order Units
- Education Command
- Special Operations Command
- Commando Action Group of the National Guard
- National Guard Rural Commando Detachments
- People's Guards Command of the National Guard, created by Hugo Chávez in 2011 for Guardsmen mandated for police protection alongside the Bolivarian National Police and aimed at keeping peace and order as well as fighting against drug-related and alcohol-related crimes and the illegal arms and drug trade in the country.
- National Guard Anti-Drugs Command
- National Guard Anti-Extortion and Sequestration Groups, created in 2012 to counter kidnappings and various other serious crimes.
- National Guard Environmental Security Service Directorate, mandated for the protection of Venezuela's natural resources, especially the ancestral lands of its indigenous peoples, and the enforcement of environmental laws.
- Social Action Division of the National Guard (in the planning stages)
Recruitment
The VNG is an all volunteer force with over 25,000 men, recruits undergo a two-year basic training course at the Ramo Verde Formation School at Los Teques. Officer candidates were required to study for an additional four years at the Officers Training Academy of the National Guard in Caracas. Postgraduate studies for officers were available at the Advanced Officers School at Caricuao, near Caracas.
Uniforms and Equipment
The VNG wears the same ranks and uniforms as the Venezuelan Army.
The VNG is equipped as a light infantry force, with the standard FN FAL assault rifle (being replaced with the AK-103), light machine-guns, and mortars up to 81mm.
It possesses over forty Unimog UR-416 wheeled armored personnel carriers and Walther G22 on airports. It aquired 141 Chinese VN4 4x4 wheeled armored vehicles in 2012, with more on order.[1]
It also employs eighty small craft for its coastal and river patrol duties as part of its Naval Coastal Vigilance Command.
The Air National Guard Command operates over 50 fixed-wing light aircraft and helicopters
Hymn
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013) |
The lyrics were written by Gabriel Torres Thumb, whereas the music of Ricardo Lleras Codazzi.
- - Choir -
- Before God and the Fatherland we swear
- with sincere and deep emotion,
- that to have by slogan we took
- and by high currency the honor (Bis)
- - I -
- Delinquents you hear! We protected
- of the law the sacred empire,
- the worker, the home, the state,
- diverse the fecund mission
- the borders, the coasts, the plains,
- mountain ranges, fields, city, small villages.
- Everything for you, everything for you, Venezuela,
- you will see us against the vile malefactor.
- - II -
- Compatriots or not: guarantee
- we will offer the good citizen,
- to the disabled person, the boy, the old one,
- based on social justice.
- And to you, Fatherland, at times of battle,
- or to the heat of your civic fights,
- these notes will arrive that listens
- as a hymn of love and loyalty.
See also
External links
- Official site of the National Guard of Venezuela Template:Es icon
- Official site of the Ministry for the Defense of Venezuela Template:Es icon
- VNG at Country Data
- ^ National Guard of Venezuela will receive more Chinese-made Norinco VN4 vehicles - Armyrecognition.com, March 12, 2013