Venezuela Slams US Attempt to Block Sale of Spanish Planes
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday denounced an attempt by the United States to block Spain from selling 12 military planes equipped with U.S. parts to Venezuela.

Washington's refusal to allow Venezuela to buy Spanish-built planes which use some U.S. technology is "an imperialist outrage", Chavez told the National Assembly on Friday.

"This is an evidence of the horrible imperialism that Washington wants to impose on the world. I must denounce once again the imperialist outrage against the government and people of Venezuela," Chavez said at the opening of the Assembly.

The United States refused permission, requested by Spanish consortium EADS-CASA, to sell 12 warplanes to Venezuela, saying that what Venezuela had said and done contributed to regional instability.

The U.S. embassy in Spain said that it hoped the refusal would not harm the "excellent relations" the Bush administration has with Spain.

Spain decided in early last November to go ahead with a plan to sell military planes and patrol crafts with a combined value of 2 billion U.S. dollars to Venezuela despite U.S. opposition.

The country said on Friday that it will replace U.S. made components with parts made elsewhere, adding that the planes will be used for transport rather than for battling ends.

Chavez said that the Venezuelan air force was also having a problem with buying training aircraft from Brazil. The Venezuelan government has been trying to buy Super Tucano fighter planes made by Brazil, but the purchase has also been blocked by Washington as the planes contain U.S. motor technology.

Chavez said he would go to Brasilia on Wednesday and Thursday next week for talks with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"I suppose we will work this all out," he said, adding that the military aircraft also had civilian uses, which were well proved in disaster relief efforts in Jamaica, Cuba, Grenada and Colombia in 2005.