Venezuela Installs Powerful Anti-Aircraft Weapons

[flamingdem]

17. Meanwhile a poignant scene of obsolete weapons going for repair and sugar stuck in the Panama Canal

* I read that the Korean sailors destroyed the crane and other parts of the ship, all 35 are under arrest


Questions still surround the cargo of sugar and what Cuba called "obsolete" Soviet-era weapons which it said it was sending halfway around the world to be repaired in North Korea.

The discovery has put the already isolated Asian nation under increased diplomatic pressure because the cargo is suspected of being in breach of a U.N. arms embargo against Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

For Cuba, the benefits of smuggling out-of-date weapons to North Korea did not seem to make up for the potential pitfalls, experts said.

"It's baffling. It's hard to believe Cuba would risk so much for so little," said Frank Mora, the Pentagon's senior official for Latin America during president Obama's first term.

---
Following the vessel's seizure, Cuban officials contacted Panama and made a request on Saturday that it be released and allowed to continue its journey.


Panamanian security officials discovered the weaponry hidden under sugar sacks on Monday. It was not until the next evening that Cuba said it was loaded with 240 tons of Soviet-era missile equipment, MiG fighter jets and other arms.

Cuba has not said a word since. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
"That's unusual. They never stay silent when they feel under attack. It looks like someone screwed up," said Mora, who is now the head of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University.


http://uk.news.yahoo.com/north-korean-ship-carrying-sugar-donation-cuba-told-004002317.html#TAlPGdL