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Chavez applauds Spain for
"firmness" over arms deal
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
on Sunday praised Spain for its
"firmness" in implementing its
sales of military ships and
planes to Venezuela despite
pressure from the United States.
"You know well how the north
American empire has pressured
the Spanish government in public
and, I imagine, in private,"
Chavez said in his weekly
television and radio show,
"Hello, President," broadcast on
Sunday.
"I want to recognize the efforts
made to resist this
steamrollering... this lack of
respect by the imperialistic
United States government," said
Chavez, thanking Spanish King
Juan Carlos, Spanish Prime
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero and Spanish Defense
Minister Jose Bono by name.
Bono will be in Caracas on
Monday to sign with Venezuela
the 2-billion-euro
(2.3-billion-US-dollar) deal for
four coastal patrol ships, four
corvettes, 10 C-295 transport
planes and two maritime
surveillance planes.
When Spain announced the plan to
sell arms to Venezuela in March,
Washington said that it
considered the sale a
"destabilizing factor in the
region", arguing that Chavez had
"totalitarian tendencies".
The United States says that
Chavez wishes to export his form
of government to his neighbors,
while Chavez says that the
United States has employed
"imperialist interventionism"
against his country.
The United States had tried to
block the deal by saying that
some of the components of the
boats and planes carry US
technology, which requires an
export license from the United
States. Caracas said that
European components could be
used to replace the US parts, if
Washington goes ahead with an
export ban.
Venezuela and the United States
have been at odds since Chavez
took office six years ago.
Caracas criticized Washington
for supporting an abortive coup
aimed at overthrowing the Chavez
government in April 2002. Chavez
also said the United States had
plans to invade Venezuela and
assassinate him, but Washington
denied the accusations.
There has been growing tension
between the two countries in
recent months partly due to the
US criticism of Venezuela's
purchase of military equipment,
including 100,000 Kalashnikov
assault rifles from Russia.
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