Spain said on Friday it would go ahead with the sale of military aircraft to Venezuela in spite of a US ban on the export of US technology to the country.
Defence analysts said Washingtonâs refusal to grant a re-export licence for the US components of the Spanish aircraft might scupper Spainâs largest-ever defence contract: a $2bn deal to supply 12 transport and maritime surveillance aircraft and eight patrol boats to the government of Hugo Chávez.
Spanish state radio quoted Defence Ministry sources as saying the aircraft sale would go ahead and that EADS-Casa, the European defence consortium, was in contact with French companies to provide substitute technology, although this could increase the price.
EADS-Casa on Friday declined to comment on whether alternative technologies were available. Navantia, the Spanish state-owned shipyard, said the sale of its patrol boats would not be affected by the US ban.
The US said it had denied a request for licences to transfer US technology because "in a region in need of political stability, the Venezuelan governmentâs actions and frequent statements contribute to regional instabilityâ.
"Despite being democratically elected, the government of Hugo Chávez has systematically undermined democratic institutions, pressured and harassed independent media and the political opposition, and grown progressively more autocratic and anti-democratic,â the US government said.
Mr Chávez slammed the US decision as "imperialist" on Friday and insisted that the aircraft were transport aircraft. "What is this if not evidence of the imperialist horror that the Washington government wants to impose on the world, they donât have respect for anything or anybody," he told the countryâs legislature.
The Spanish foreign ministry said on Friday Washingtonâs refusal to grant re-export licences was a "technical decisionâ that would not affect relations between Spainâs Socialist government and the administration of President George W. Bush.
Nevertheless, Madridâs deliberate courting of leftwing and populist regimes in Latin America has not endeared José Luis RodrÃguez Zapateroâs government to Washington. The contract with Venezuela was signed in November in spite of strong US opposition. It soured relations that have never fully recovered from Mr Zapateroâs decision to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq in 2004.
Venezuela, the worldâs fifth biggest oil exporter, has gone on a military spending spree that has stirred concern in Washington.
Mr Chávez complained this week that Washington was also trying to scupper a contract for Brazil to sell Venezuela at least a dozen Super-Tucano light attack aircraft, a deal agreed with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last year.
Celso Amorim, Brazilâs foreign minister, acknowledged that there were "signs" that the US was seeking to veto the Brazilian contract.
