Globalization: U.S. is now Latin America's #3 arms supplier

Just the Facts: U.S. is now Latin America's #3 arms supplierOn September 10 the Congressional Research Service, (CRS) the research arm of the U.S. Congress, released its annual report on arms transfers to the developing world.

Latin America’s arms purchases lag behind those of developing countries in Asia and the Near East. The report, however, finds a very sharp growth in Latin American countries’ agreements to buy new weapons. Comparing the last two four-year periods (2002-2005 and 2006-2009), CRS documents a fourfold increase. (There was) an 80% growth in U.S. arms sales agreements to Latin America between these four-year periods.

During the 2006-2009 period, the United States in fact drops to third place among Latin America's top arms suppliers. Russia sold the region 46.78% of its weapons, France captured 26.55% of the market, and the United States accounted for 10.23% of the region's arms purchases. This is down from a 23.65% market share in 2002-2005. Sept. 22, 2010