Venezuela
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Venezuela adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008, but has not taken any steps to join it. Venezuela last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2011. It abstained from voting on the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Venezuela is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but it has imported them and destroyed an unspecified quantity in August 2011.
Policy
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Venezuelan officials never directly comment on the convention or the country’s lack of accession. In 2011, Venezuela said, “a binding tool leading us to a prohibition of the use, stockpiling, [and] transfer…would be the ideal” to address the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions.[1]
Venezuela participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Upon joining the consensus adoption of the convention text in Dublin on 30 May 2008, Venezuela expressed its opposition to the convention’s Article 21 provisions on “interoperability” (relations with states not party), which it said undermined “the spirit and purpose” of the convention.[2] Venezuela did not attend the convention’s Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008.
Venezuela participated as an observer at the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011. This was its first and, to date, only attendance at a meeting of the convention. Venezuela was invited to, but did not attend, the first part of the convention’s Second Review Conference, which was held in November 2020 and September 2021.
In December 2021, Venezuela abstained from the vote on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] Previously, Venezuela voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention from its introduction in 2015 until 2018, but has abstained from the vote since 2019.
Venezuela is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Venezuela is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.
In 2011, the Ministry of the Popular Power for the Defense of Venezuela announced that cluster munitions belonging to the air force had been destroyed, as part an operation to destroy surplus ammunition and ordnance.[4] An unspecified number of cluster munitions were destroyed, including Israeli-made AS TAL-1 cluster bombs.
It is not clear whether Venezuela still stockpiles cluster munitions. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has reported that Israel exported the LAR-160 surface-to-surface rocket system to Venezuela, but it is not known if ammunition containing submunitions was included in the deal.[5]
[1] Statement of Venezuela, Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 24 November 2011. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
[2] For more information on Venezuela’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), pp. 267–268.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[4] Carlos E. Hernandez, “El Ministerio de la Defensa de Venezuela destruye bombas de racimo” (“The Ministry of Defense of Venezuela destroys cluster bombs”), Infodefensa, 26 August 2011.
[5] SIPRI, “Arms Transfers Database,” recipient report for Israel for the period 1950–2011, generated 6 June 2012.
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 14 April 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 October 1999.
Venezuela has not adopted national implementation legislation with fiscal and penal sanctions for treaty violations, as international treaties ratified by the government automatically become national law.[1]
Venezuela participated in the Ottawa Process that created the Mine Ban Treaty. It has participated in many of the treaty’s meetings, most recently attending the Nineteenth Meeting of States Parties, held virtually in November 2021, and the intersessional meetings held in Geneva in June 2022.
Venezuela has provided a total of 11 Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency reports, but has not submitted an updated annual report since 2012.
Venezuela is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but not CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW). It is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Production, transfer, stockpiling, and destruction
Venezuela has never produced antipersonnel landmines and is not known to have exported them.[2] In the past, it imported or otherwise acquired antipersonnel mines manufactured by Belgium, Italy, Spain, the United States (US), and the former Yugoslavia.[3]
Venezuela completed destruction of its stockpile of 47,189 antipersonnel mines on 24 September 2003.[4] It has never specified the types of antipersonnel mines that were destroyed.[5]
Venezuela reported in 2012 that it had retained 4,874 PMA-3 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes.[6] It has not provided an update on the number of mines retained or their consumption since then.
Use
Venezuela used antipersonnel landmines before the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty, but there have been no reports or allegations of mine use by government forces since then.
According to Venezuela, its forces laid 1,074 antipersonnel mines around six naval bases between April 1995 and March 1997.[7] In 2007 and 2008, the ICBL expressed concern that Venezuela was purposefully keeping the antipersonnel mines in place in order to derive military benefit from them rather than clearing them as soon as possible.[8] Venezuela announced the completion of clearance of these mined areas in May 2013.[9]
Several Colombian non-state armed groups (NSAGs), which are known to fabricate and use antipersonnel mines, appear to have a presence in Venezuela, including factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People's Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejército del Pueblo, FARC–EP) and the National Liberation Army (Unión Camilista-Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN).[10]
Venezuelan officials have alleged new landmine use by these groups in Venezuela’s border areas in 2021 and 2022. Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, told local media in February 2022 that had been at least eight civilian casualties from antipersonnel mines laid in Apure, in the south of Venezuela on the border with Colombia.[11]
[1] Venezuela restated this view forcefully during the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2008, in response to an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) presentation on Article 9 (National Implementation Measures). Venezuela stated that all ratified international treaties are of the highest domestic legal standing—that of the constitution. ICRC replied that a specific law was still desirable for various Mine Ban Treaty provisions, such as the Article 3 exception for retained mines, and Article 8 provisions on fact-finding missions. Statement of Venezuela, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 6 June 2008. Notes by the Monitor.
[2] Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2007), Form H. See, Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Database. See also, previous Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports submitted by Venezuela.
[3] Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2002), Form B.
[4] Letter from the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, and to the UN Conference on Disarmament Secretariat, 25 November 2003. The 47,189 mines were more than previously reported as held in stocks. In September 2002, Venezuela reported a stockpile of 22,136 antipersonnel mines, but in May 2003 reported a revised total of 46,136 antipersonnel mines. See, Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2002), Form B; and Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2001), Form B.
[5] Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, 1 May 2003, Form B. The report listed the types and quantities for 46,136 mines still held in stocks.
[6] Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011), Form D.
[7] Venezuela Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2007), Form I; and email from Yaneth Arocha, First Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 June 2005. The 1,073 figure (1,074 minus the accidental detonation) is the figure reported in Article 7 reports submitted in 2005–2008, which was a revised total from the figure of 1,036 provided in the report submitted in 2003. Venezuela has reported different dates of emplacement in Article 7 reports. Most notably, Venezuela reported that landmines were last laid in March 1997 in its Article 7 report submitted on 26 April 2006, while the Article 7 report submitted on 1 May 2003 reported that mines were last laid in May 1998, with the latter date being five months after Venezuela signed the Mine Ban Treaty.
[8] Statement of ICBL, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 27 April 2007. The ICBL repeated these concerns in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, dated 18 July 2007, in statements at the Eighth Meeting of States Parties on 18 and 22 November 2007, and in several meetings with Venezuelan officials in 2007.
[9] Statement of the Netherlands as Co-Chair of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Ban Treaty Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 December 2013.
[10] “Disidencias de las Farc en Venezuela: ¿un problema intermitente permanente?” (“FARC dissidents in Venezuela: an intermittent or permanent problem?”), El Espectador, 16 April 2021.
[11] Florantonia Singer, “Venezuela informa de ocho muertes por minas antipersona en la frontera con Colombia” (“Venezuela reports eight deaths from antipersonnel mines on the border with Colombia”), El Pais, 11 February 2022.
Mine Action
Contamination and Impact
Mines
On 27 May 2013 at the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reported it had cleared all the mined areas remaining and was mine-free[1] and subsequently made a formal declaration of completion of its Article 5 obligations at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in December 2013.[2]
Venezuela’s mine contamination was the result of antipersonnel mine emplacement by its armed forces at six naval bases near Río Arauca in the Amazon region along its border with Colombia in 1995–1997. After an attack on 25 February 1995 on the naval post in Cararabo, Apure state, allegedly by non-state armed groups operating across the border from Colombia, Venezuela laid 1,073 mines in 13 minefields around six naval posts in Cararabo, Guafitas, Isla Vapor, Puerto Páez, Río Arauca, and San Fernando de Atabapo. The total mined area was reported to be 180,000m2.
The maps and photographs in Venezuela’s Article 5 deadline extension request clearly showed the locations and terrain of the mined areas.[3] The bases are located on a floodplain in dense vegetation and in an isolated part of Venezuela.[4]
Venezuela’s landmine problem[5]
|
Location of Mined Area |
Number of Mined Areas |
Number of Mines |
Contaminated Area (m2) |
Status |
|
Puesto Naval Fronterizo, Guafitas, Estado Apure |
3 |
57 |
20,000 |
Completed |
|
AF. Clemente Maldonado, San Fernando de Atabapo, Estado Amazona |
3 |
299 |
20,000 |
Completed |
|
AF. Manuel Echeveria, Cararabo, Estado Apure |
3 |
316 |
40,000 |
Completed |
|
Puesto Naval Fronterizo, Puerto Paez, Estado Apure |
2 |
281 |
40,000 |
Completed |
|
Puesto Naval Fronterizo, Rio Arauca International, Estado Apure |
1 |
77 |
20,000 |
Completed |
|
Puesto Naval Fronterizo, Isla Vapor, Estado Apure |
1 |
43 |
40,000 |
Completed |
|
Total |
13 |
1,073 |
180,000 |
Completed |
Mine Action Program
The mine action program is under the sole control of the Ministry of Defense with no civilian oversight.[6]
Land Release
Venezuela was extremely slow to release its relatively small mined area. Even though Venezuela became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999, it was not until October 2010 (during clearance covering 20,000m2) that Venezuela cleared its first mine, at Rio Arauca. Similar clearance was conducted in 2011, but Venezuela cited flooding as the reason for not meeting its 2012 targets.[7] By December 2011, Venezuela had released 40,000m2 or 22% of the 180,000m2 of mined area. In May 2012, Venezuela reported it was unable to complete the clearance at the navy base and four other mined areas covering another 40,000m2 due to flooding.[8] Clearance resumed in February 2013 as planned and, by the end of March 2013, Venezuela completed clearance in the four areas begun in 2012 in addition to the three remaining mined areas at Isla Vapor, San Fernando de Atabapo, and Cararabo (where 658 Yugoslavia-made PMA-3 were found in the three areas).
Clearance results 2012–2013
|
Location of Mined Area |
Number of Mined Areas |
Number of Mines |
Contaminated Area (m2) |
|
AF. Manuel Echeveria, Cararabo, Estado Apure |
3 |
316 |
40,000 |
|
AF. Clemente Maldonado, San Fernando de Atabapo, Estado Amazona |
3 |
299 |
20,000 |
|
Puesto Naval Fronterizo, Puerto Paez, Estado Apure |
2 |
23 |
40,000 |
|
Puesto Naval Fronterizo, Isla Vapor, Estado Apure |
1 |
43 |
40,000 |
|
Total |
9 |
681 |
140,000 |
In total, Venezuela reported having cleared 1,073 antipersonnel mines emplaced in 13 mined areas around six naval posts in order to complete its Article 5 obligations. Venezuela’s mine action efforts were reported as entirely funded nationally.[9]
Article 5 Compliance
Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the five-year extension to its deadline granted by the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in 2008), Venezuela was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2014.
The Ninth Meeting of States Parties that granted Venezuela the five-year extension noted that “with speedy establishment of a demining program and acquisition of mechanical demining assets, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) may find itself in a situation wherein it could complete implementation before October 2014 and that this could benefit the Convention.”[10] Indeed, in December 2010, Venezuela had said that new procurement procedures for demining equipment should allow the total additional time needed to clear all mined areas from its original Article 5 deadline to be reduced from five years to four, and that the clearance of all mined areas should be completed by June 2013.[11]
On 27 May 2013 at the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Venezuela reported it had cleared all the remaining mined areas and was mine-free.[12] The following December, Venezuela made a formal declaration of compliance with its Article 5 obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva.[13]
[1] Statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 27 May 2013 (in Spanish).
[2] Statement of Venezuela, Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 4 December 2013.
[3] See Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 28 March 2008, Annexes 5 and 6.
[4] Ibid., p. 27; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for the period April 2009 to April 2010), Form I.
[5] The table is based on information contained in Venezuela’s Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports covering 2010 and 2011. Statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee Meeting on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 22 May 2012 (in Spanish).
[6] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 28 March 2008, p. 5.
[7] Statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee Meeting on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 22 May 2012 (in Spanish).
[8] Ibid.
[9] See statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 27 May 2013; statement of Venezuela, Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 4 December 2013; and Press Release, “Venezuela complies with its anti-landmines obligations,” 4 December 2013.
[10] Decision on Venezuela’s Article 5 deadline Extension Request, Mine Ban Treaty Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 28 November 2008.
[11] Statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 1 December 2010 (in Spanish).
[12] Statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 27 May 2013 (in Spanish).
[13] Statement of Venezuela, Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 4 December 2013.
Support for Mine Action
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela stated in its Article 5 deadline extension request in 2008 that it would assume the full costs of its mine clearance and that funds would be allocated in Venezuela’s annual budget. The request included a budget of VEF30 million (US$14 million) to clear 13 mined areas by 2014.[1] Since then, Venezuela’s currency has significantly devalued; in 2012, VEF30 million was the equivalent of just $7 million.[2] Venezuela completed clearance of mined areas in May 2013 but did not report the costs of the clearance.[3]
[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, 31 March 2008, p. 4. Average exchange rate for 2008: VEF2.14=US$1. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2012.
[2] Average exchange rate for 2012: VEF4.29=US$1. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2012.
[3] Statement of Venezuela, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Geneva, 27 May 2013.