Whether it's called an ``arms race'' or a ``coincidental modernization'' of existing stocks, a wave of weapons purchases by Latin American nations is causing neighbors to watch each other with growing mistrust and fear.

PROTECTION

Brazil says it must protect its newfound oil and gas riches. Venezuela says the U.S. military might attack it. Colombia is worried by Venezuela, Ecuador is watching Colombia and Paraguay is keeping an eye on Bolivia.

There's no question that weapons sales around the region are soaring. They almost doubled in just five years, from $24 billion in 2003 to $47 billion last year, according to one report by Colombian analyst Javier Loaiza. Others put the 2008 total at $60 billion.

U.S. government officials are monitoring the deals with a level of concern but avoid the term ``arms race.'' One said he preferred to call it a ``coincidental modernization of existing stocks'' to reflect the absence so far of widespread tit-for-tat arms purchases.

``They're buying big-ticket items but the data shows we're not yet at an arms race,'' said one top Obama administration official who monitors Latin America. Only four countries account for 80 percent of all the arms purchases -- Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia -- and 80-85 percent of the region's military expenditures go to salaries and pensions, not weapons, added the official, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly on the issue.

Michael Shifter, vice president of the Latin American Dialogue think tank in Washington, agreed there is no arms race yet but said there is cause for concern -- such as the clashes between conservative President Alvaro Uribe in Colombia and his leftist neighbors, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and Rafael Correa in Ecuador.

Colombian troops last year attacked a guerrilla camp on the Ecuadorean side of the border, killing a top rebel commander known but leading Correa and Chávez to freeze relations with Bogotá. Chávez also ordered tanks to his border with Colombia.

``There's a tremendous amount of political tension and mistrust between governments in the region,'' Shifter said. ``There's also an availability of resources [money for purchases] and a deficiency in regional mechanisms to track purchases and promote transparency.''

The sudden bout of arms deals also may be a delayed result of the end in the 1980s of many military governments in the region, said Adam Isacson, director of the Latin American security program at the Center for International Policy in Washington.

``The defense budgets had been staying very low, and then commodity prices went through the roof so everybody started buying like crazy,'' Isacson said, referring to the prices of items such as Venezuelan oil, Brazilian soya and Chilean copper.

Brazil leads the buying spree -- with $27 billion paid or contracted in 2008, according to the Loaiza report -- as it seeks to protect vast new oil and natural gas deposits found offshore and increase its control of the vast Amazon.

``Everyone knows Brazil is a peaceful nation, but we need to be able to show our teeth if anyone wants to mess with us,'' President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in September. The ``teeth'' include 36 jet fighters, five submarines, 250 tanks and 50 helicopters.

In Venezuela, ``There's a genuine concern that they would be vulnerable to a U.S. attack, so they want to protect themselves,'' said Shifter, especially after Colombia agreed to host seven U.S. military facilities. ``And it's a way to project Venezuela's power in the region and needle the U.S., which is what Chávez is all about.''

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