Colombia to sell military hardware abroad

World Today

Colombia is selling military hardware abroad. The country is building naval ships for Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador. CCTV America’s Michelle Begue reports. 

In Colombia’s coastal city of Cartagena, men and women are hard at work, building, repairing and maintaining the ships that patrol the country’s waters.

Once built, this river patrol vessel will help the Brazilian Navy patrol the Amazon rainforest.

Colombia’s navy – the Armada Nacional de la Republica de Colombia, or ARC – has been collaborating with the state-run shipyards, Cotecmar, to build more than 100 ships in the past 16 years.

The next challenge is selling naval vessels abroad. Colombian officials say they already have buyers from Panama and Brazil.

But some question Colombia’s interest in exporting its war industry, especially now when the focus is on a peace process.

The Colombian Navy insists there’s no conflict between selling its expertise and Colombia’s new focus on peace.

 “The ships we are selling aren’t for war. It is to generate security, so we can have development in our Colombian territory,” Rear Admiral Jorge Enrique Carreno, President of Cotecmar said.