MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

U.S. bans arms sales to Venezuela

The United States is imposing a ban on arms sales to Venezuela because President Hugo Chavez's leftist government is not supporting counterterrorism efforts, State Department officials said Monday.

As a result, U.S. sales and licenses for the export of defense articles and services to Venezuela, including the transfer of defense articles, will not be permitted, said Darla Jordan, a State Department spokeswoman.

Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the United States but relations between Chavez and the Bush administration have sharply deteriorated.

Chavez has called President Bush a "terrorist," and denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Just last month, the State Department used its annual report on international terrorism to accuse Chavez of having an "ideological affinity" with two leftist guerrilla groups operating in neighboring Colombia, the FARC and the National Liberation Army. The United States considers both to be terrorist organizations.

Earlier Monday, Chavez rejected U.S. claims that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing a nuclear bomb.

"I don't believe that the United States or anyone else has the right ... to prohibit that a country has nuclear energy," he said at a news conference in London.