Last month Colombia and Israel signed a historic agreement on military cooperation. Well the fruits of that agreement are starting to bloom. Israel has made an unprecedented offer to Colombia. They are offering their top of the line tank, the Merkava IV to the Colombian Army.
Israel has offered the procurement of Merkava Mark IV tanks and Merkava Namer APCs to Colombia.
During initial discussions with Colombia, a possible procurement of 25 to 40 tanks were discussed. While the price of the Merkava tank has never been published, as it is produced by the IDF and has thus far been provided only to IDF forces, experts assess that the price of such a tank would reach approximately $6 million.
Colombia is concerned over the accelerated rate in which its neighbor Venezuela, ruled by President Hugo Chavez, has been procuring weapons, and has since considerably increased its military procurement budget. Several years ago, Colombia procured military systems from Israel, which included the Kfir fighter aircraft, ground and naval systems. Colombia is also on the verge of procuring UAVs from Israel.
Additional procurement of Israeli products was also brought up during the visit of Israel’s Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, to Colombia last month.
This offer shows the close level of trust between Israel and Colombia. This sale would also give Colombia the best armored corps in Latin America and would enable them to continue on the path of hegemony in South America.