By Xinhua
Rio de Janeiro : The Brazilian government has refuted charges by an opposition leader that it has been exporting weapons on a large scale to Venezuela.
Defence Minister Nelson Jobim Tuesday said the government had sold ammunition “in small amounts” to the neighbouring country through the foreign ministry last year in a transparent deal.
He did not reveal the size of the arms exports to Venezuela, but said all documentation on the transactions would be tabled in the country’s senate.
“It was a normal trade relationship, without any connotation of an arms race. All legal, all registered,” said Senator Romero Juca of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, which is allied with the ruling party.
Earlier Tuesday, leader Arthur Virgilio of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party said in a plenary session that Brazil exported 31 tonnes of armaments by commercial flights to Venezuela, citing information from private intelligence agency World Check.