Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 246,185 (2001 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $934 million (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 0.9% (FY99)
Venezuela Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: claims all of Guyana west of the Essequibo (river); maritime boundary dispute with Colombia in the Gulf of Venezuela
Illicit drugs: illicit producer of opium for the international drug trade on a small scale; however, large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia bound for US and Europe; important money-laundering center; active eradication program primarily targeting opium; increasing signs of drug-related activities by Colombian insurgents on border
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@Vietnam
Vietnam Introduction
Background: France occupied all of Vietnam by 1884. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by communist forces under Ho Chi MINH, who took control of the north. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later North Vietnamese forces overran the south. Economic reconstruction of the reunited country has proven difficult as aging Communist Party leaders have only grudgingly initiated reforms necessary for a free market.