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Caribbean-Latin America
US stops Venezuela planes deal
2006-10-19
The US has stopped Spain selling 12 military aircraft to Venezuela by refusing to allow American military technology to be used in the planes. Venezuela planned to buy the aircraft from the Spanish company Eads-Casa but US determination to prevent Hugo Chávez building up his armed forces wrecked the deal, according to the deputy president, José Vicente Rangel.
Good. Somebody did his/her job.
Mr Rangel said replacing the US technology with French or Israeli parts had made the €500m (£335m) deal too costly. Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain's foreign minister, confirmed that what would have been his country's biggest arms deal was now just a sale of naval vessels.

Venezuela's decision to drop the order for 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 patrol planes came the day after Spain declined to back its effort to be a temporary member of the UN security council.
Posted by:Steve White

#2  Poor poor Hugo. Guess Cindy Sheehag couldn't save his ass on this one.
Posted by: Icerigger   2006-10-19 23:31  

#1  Old story on the US invoking its right to withhold tech transfer approval.

But it's amusing to see Hugo insist that it was cost that killed the alternative, i.e. to fit out the planes with Euro systems. He's been dangling that option in front of Spain for a year and jerked it back because he didn't get his bully pulpit in NY.

He so very much wanted to have the right to enter the US at any time and harrangue Bush from the steps of the UN headquarters building and from the security council chambers.
Posted by: lotp   2006-10-19 07:27  

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