MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain confirms sale of military equipment to Venezuela

Spain agreed Monday to sell twelve military planes and eight patrol boats to Venezuela in a 2 billion US dollars deal that the United States has threatened to block

The signing ceremony in Caracas between President Hugo Chavez and Spanish Defence minister Jose Bono was aired on national television.

The patrol vessels are to be built by Navantia and the twelve aircrafts include ten C-295 transports and two CL-235 maritime surveillance planes.

Mr. Bono said that the military equipment was slated to be used for "defensive, not offensive" activities, and emphasized that the whole operation is done under the rule of international law.

Washington has criticized Spain's planned sale of military aircraft and patrol vessels to leftist-governed Venezuela as a potentially "destabilizing factor" in South America.

In a speech last week to a gathering in Madrid of officials, diplomats and businesspeople, U.S. Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre recalled that the patrol boats and aircrafts include U.S. technology "something, he said, could prompt Washington to deny authorization for the sale".

The operation involving Spanish-made military equipment which Madrid has said would be a big boost to its aircraft and shipbuilding industries could emerge as another element of tension between the Bush administration and the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The prime minister sparked Washington's fury last year when immediately after taking office in April, he pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq.

The previous conservative government had been one of Europe's staunchest supporters of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Washington and Caracas have also had increasingly rocky relations since President George W. Bush took office, with U.S. officials accusing Mr. Chavez of having "totalitarian" intentions, and Venezuela exposing what it describes as the "imperialist and interventionist" attitude of the United States.

At Monday's ceremony, Bono vehemently rejected the notion that Spain "is selling arms" to Caracas.

"They are transport aircraft and patrol boats and vessels basically for civilian use," he emphasized, adding that the deal was "transparent and in compliance with international regulations, and also had the support of the main unions and parties" in Spain.

President Chavez blasted Washington for insisting in "accusing us of destabilizing, of being a threat to democracy in this region. But not one of those accusations has been proven in seven years because they are false, and they just show the lack of dignity of the United States".

However Mr. Chavez also reiterated Venezuela's rejection of "unilateralism" as well as the condemnation of "terrorism, in any form".