Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index As of 2000, the armed forces enlisted 87,500 individuals in four service branches--the Army, Navy (including the Marine Corps), Air Force, and the Armed Forces of Cooperation (FAC), commonly known as the National Guard. In 2001, a civilian was appointed Minister of Defense for the first time in many decades. His role is largely policy-oriented, and operational command remains with a uniformed services commander. Military branches: National Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Nacionales or FAN) includes Ground Forces or Army (Fuerzas Terrestres or Ejercito), Naval Forces (Fuerzas Navales or Armada), Air Force (Fuerzas Aereas or Aviacion), Armed Forces of Cooperation or National Guard (Fuerzas Armadas de Cooperacion or Guardia Nacional) Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 6,398,169 (2000 est.) Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 4,612,754 (2000 est.) Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 244,350 (2000 est.) Military expenditures - dollar figure: $934 million (FY99) Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 0.9% (FY99) See also : Venezuela This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.