QUITO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela plans to donate
a fleet of combat planes to Ecuador, local media reported on Tuesday.
TV Ecuavisa quoted Ecuadorian military sources as
saying that Venezuela would donate Ecuador a fleet of Mirage-50 planes made in
the 1970s, a kind of planes that the Ecuadorian Air Force also has.
Ecuadorian authorities made no comments on the
report, which came at a time when Ecuador is strengthening its military
equipments for territorial defense, mainly at the border with Colombia.
Ecuavisa said the negotiations at "commission level"
between both governments were continuing and one of the issues being discussed
was that Ecuador had to estimate the cost for maintaining those planes if it
accepted the donation.