Spain, Venezuela and the US

[Autoplectic <autoplectic@xxxxxxxxx>]

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,12716,1686260,00.html>

US tries to stop arms sale to Venezuela

Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Saturday January 14, 2006
The Guardian

The US moved yesterday to stop Spain completing a $2bn (£1.13bn) arms
sale to one of America's bitterest critics in the Americas,
Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez. State department officials informed
the Spanish government that it would not give the licences needed to
allow the sale of a dozen military aircraft that carry US technology.
Spain vowed to press ahead with the deal regardless.

The 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 patrol planes, which
Venezuela has insisted would not be armed and would be used for
tackling drug smuggling, were part of a deal to supply ships and
planes. "In a region in need of political stability, the Venezuelan
government's actions and frequent statements contribute to regional
instability," the US embassy in Madrid said in a statement. "This
proposed sale ... has the potential to complicate the situation."

Democratically elected, the government of President Hugo Chávez has
systematically undermined democratic institutions, pressured and
harassed independent media and the political opposition, and grown
progressively more autocratic and antidemocratic," it added.

Mr Chávez denounced the move as evidence of Washington's "horrific
imperialism". He derided President George Bush as "Mr Danger" and said
he would "crash up against the force of the truth."

The decision also looks set to sour relations with Washington that
have never recovered from socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero's decision to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq in 2004.

The US says it is concerned that Basque separatist group Eta is active
in Venezuela - though Spain's own intelligence services denied the
group was there.

Spain's deputy prime minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, said
Spain would press ahead with the contract. adding that substitute
parts would be sourced.