Chávez Thanks Zapatero For Not Giving In To US Pressure
The Venezuelan president will personally attend the ceremony that he has organized to sign the contracts with the Zapatero government.

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, has gone all out to organize the signing of the military contracts with Spain that the defense ministers of both countries, Admiral Orlando Maniglia and José Bono, respectively, will sign today in Venezuela. The overall amount of the contracts is some 2 billion dollars, the largest amount ever invested by Chávez in military material. In this case, it is eight patrol boats and twelve Spanish aircraft, and yesterday Chávez thanked Spain for not “giving in to the pressure” of the US, which is opposed to the sale by Spain of military material to Venezuela.

One of the problems Chávez had to face is that, evidently, the Venezuelan government did not comply with some of the requirements, such as offering the contracts for bid and consultation with the [Venezuelan] Parliament, and the opposition has criticized this. Nonetheless, the signing of the contracts will go ahead.

In addition, up to now, no country had objected to the purchase of arms by prior Venezuelan governments, contrary to what is happening now, with the objections expressed by the Bush Administration to the supply of military material to Chávez by Spain. When Chávez wanted to buy parts from Israel for the maintenance of its 24 F-16 fighter jets, the government of Ariel Sharon refused because Washington was opposed. Then Chávez threatened to give to Cuba the F-16s that were still serviceable.

But now not even the warnings of the United States have scared off the Spanish government, which permits Chávez to present the transaction to the international community as a personal success in defying Bush.

In an appearance on the local television program “Hello, Mr. President,” Chávez thanked the Zapatero government for its “firmness” in the face of the attempts of the US to halt the Venezuelan purchase of military materials. “You know how the American empire has publicly, and I imagine privately, pressured the Spanish government, and how. Thank you everyone for resisting the pressure and disrespect of the imperialist government of the US,” [Chavez] said.