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14.01.2006 08:16:33
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Продолжаем выпивать - более глубокие причины демарша Чавеса
Приветствую!
Чавес взвился из-за испано-американской блокировки венесуэльского контракта с EADS-CASA на поставку на 10 транспортников, 2 морских разв-патрульных самолетов и 8 патрульных катеровс (сие есть краткое содержание нижеследующего вчерашнего сообщения)
Марат
"If you save the world too often, it begins to expect it"
Agence France Presse -- English
January 13, 2006 Friday 2:12 PM GMT
US bars Spain from selling planes to Venezuela
MADRID, Jan 13 2006
Spain and the United States said Friday that Washington had blocked a sale by Madrid of 12 military planes to Venezuela, making good on warnings not to deal with the left-wing government of President Hugo Chavez.
The US ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Aguirre, told Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Thursday of the US decision to refuse a license to Spain for the deal.
"The ambassador informed the minister of the American decision to apply the law, which is intended to block this commercial contract involving planes equipped with American parts," a ministry spokesman said.
The spokesman denied Washington was acting politically in halting the two-billion-dollar deal for the transport and surveillance planes, but a statement from the US embassy here indicated otherwise.
"Despite being democratically elected, the government of President Hugo Chavez has systematically undermined democratic institutions, pressured and harassed independent media and the political opposition, and grown progressively more autocratic and anti-democratic," it charged.
"In a region in need of political stability, the Venezuelan Government's actions and frequent statements contribute to regional instability," embassy added.
"This proposed sale of air platforms has the potential to complicate the situation."
The United States had voiced objections to the deal when it was signed in late November, saying it was concerned about US technology being sold to the oil-rich South American state.
Chavez has aroused the ire of Washington with his public anti-US remarks, fiery populism and close friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Caracas says the equipment is needed to combat drug smuggling. But the US administration, which has called Chavez a "negative force" in Latin America, fears materiel sold to his government could be used to arm Colombian rebels.
Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono had previously defended its deal with Venezuela, saying that the materiel was for solely peaceful purposes and that Madrid had fulfilled European Union and NATO regulations.
The deal signed with EADS-CASA, the Spanish subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), includes 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 marine surveillance and transport planes, and eight military patrol boats.
EADS-CASA declined to comment Friday on the Venezuela deal but acknowledged that the only way to keep it alive would be to replace the US technology in the planes with European parts.
The operation would delay the delivery of Venezuela's purchase and add considerable cost.
Chavez has repeatedly lashed out at the United States, accusing it of trying to oust him from office or even assassinate him.
He alleged Tuesday that the United States was blocking the sale of airplanes to Venezuela by the Brazilian company Embraer because they contain US technology.
The US embassy asserted Thursday that the decision to bar the Spanish planes "would not prejudice consideration of potential future requests by EADS/Casa," nor did Washington expect it to "adversely affect the excellent relations we have with the Government of Spain."
However, those relations have experienced several hiccups since the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came to power in April 2004 and promptly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq.
Zapatero said at the end of November that he saw no problem with the United States over the sale of the planes, which had no offensive role.
"Spain takes its decisions in relation to what Spain wants ... whether it is a matter of waging war or its relations with other countries," he added.