Venezuela arms embargo should be part of Bush Doct

Decision Brief                                       No. 06-D 26                     2006-05-17

(Washington , D.C.): The new U.S. arms embargo against the extremist regime in Venezuela should have implications beyond South America . Though intended to protect democracies in the region, the embargo should be used to convince our allies that there is a price to be paid for actions that willfully undermine American security interests.

The Miami Herald reports that President Bush’s embargo is “largely symbolic” because Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez “has been buying the bulk of his weapons, including attack and transport helicopters, patrol boats and military transport planes, from Russia and Spain.”

Bush Doctrine Created Stark Choice for Our Allies

The post-9/11 Bush Doctrine created a stark choice for nations to either side with us or against us in the global war on terror. This hard line has given way to a new reality where some of our allies simply take for granted that we will ignore their efforts against us. For example, France and Germany undermined U.S. efforts to compel action by the United Nations against Saddam Hussein, yet they continue to benefit from our military presence in Europe . They also profit from U.S. purchases of their military products. As the war proceeds, the United States should consider how it can make its policies more consistent.

The most practical approach is to stop purchasing military equipment from countries that disregard our security interests, at least whenever viable alternatives are available. No country should be more concerned about this possibility than Spain , a once-loyal partner in the war on terror that now prefers to thumb its nose at the U.S. while lobbying Congress and the U.S. military to buy its products.

Spain decided to cool its warm relations with the United States after the al Qaeda bombings of the Madrid transit system propelled Socialist Workers Party President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to power in March, 2004.

In fact, Spain has defied U.S. interests in spectacular fashion – and in a way that demands a response . Last November, Spain sold 12 of its CASA C-235 and C-295 military transport aircraft to Venezuela , despite strong U.S. objections. Because the aircraft includes American-made technology, the Bush Administration tried to halt the sale under the 1992 International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Instead, Spain replaced U.S. components in the aircraft and has made a very public spectacle of the sale ever since – even taking part in the Venezuelan dictator’s propaganda campaign against the United States.

Even before making good on his campaign promise to pull his country from the international coalition in Iraq , Spain ‘s socialist president traveled to Caracas to negotiate the sale personally with the Venezuelan dictator. He later dispatched Defense Minister Jose Bono to Caracas on November 28, 2005 to seal the deal with Chavez, despite U.S. objections that the trip would legitimize the Chavez regime’s anti-U.S. rhetoric.

Spain dismissed U.S. concerns. Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told his nation’s largest newspaper on November 27 that the deal would not cause problems for Spain in the U.S. This was in spite of a report four days earlier in the same paper that “Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono to personally sign the deals in Caracas to stress what he described as a ‘defeat’ of the United States.” The foreign minister’s comments were despite warnings from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld just three days earlier that Spain was “making a mistake” over the sale to Venezuela.

To make matters worse, the Spanish defense minister used his appearance in Venezuela to denounce the U.S. as an “empire,” while Chavez used the occasion to characterize Spain’s decision as “confronting the hegemonic and imperialist ambitions of the elite that now governs the United States,” and which is “massacring the people of Iraq.”

Part of Campaign to Undermine the U.S. and Its Allies

To reinforce his point that the deal with Spain was intended to insult the U.S., Chavez forced an American congressional delegation led by 81 year-old House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) and his ranking colleague, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) to sit on the Caracas airport tarmac for two hours while the deal with Spain was sealed, and then forced the delegation to leave the country. It reeked of a setup job.

The U.S. also specifically warned Spain that its deal was part of the Venezuelan dictator’s strategy to undermine U.S. interests and destabilize the region, including by coordinating actions with Cuba and supporting leftist FARC rebels that hope to overthrow the Columbian government. Chavez himself has proclaimed that his “new strategic map” is intended to “break apart” the South American democratic countries. In fact, when Spain told the U.S. that its CASA aircraft would be used in Venezuela for humanitarian purposes only, Chavez told the European media the aircraft will be used “mainly” for humanitarian purposes, and that they would be used both “inside and outside the country.”

Spain was also aware that Chavez was scheduled to take possession from Russia of 30,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles just days after signing the CASA aircraft deal. Spain ignored Colombian and U.S. concerns that the guns are of the same type used by FARC, and that the total order of 100,000 rifles is far more than is needed to arm every Venezuelan soldier. In response to U.S. concerns, the Spanish defense minister told the media he was “not willing to recognize that there are chosen people who are above others.”

Spreading Anti-U.S. Propaganda while Competing for U.S. Tax Dollars

As if spreading anti-U.S. propaganda abroad wasn’t bad enough, Spain has been working in Washington to get the Coast Guard and Pentagon to buy the same planes it was selling Chavez.

Last year, CASA got Congress to earmark funds for two C-235 aircraft to be used by the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program. CASA is now pressing for even more Deepwater funds, and has established a new campaign to supply up to 35 C-295s to the U.S. Army and Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program.

Congress authorized start-up funding for the JCA program in 2005, and must eventually fund additional transport aircraft for the Coast Guard Deepwater program. The programs combined will be worth $3-4 billion in the next two years, and as much as $30-40 billion over the next decade. It would be appropriate for the U.S. to make sure that Spain ‘s decision to earn $1 billion from Venezuela for its CASA aircraft should come at the cost of earning far more from sales in the U.S.

The Bottom Line

The U.S. is accustomed to the self-serving actions of some of our friends abroad. But there is growing resentment among American taxpayers when they are asked to pay for products from companies of countries that actively undermine U.S. interests. The Bush Administration has made it clear that we have compelling interests in stopping the arms build-up in Venezuela. Congress should step in to make sure that our allies understand the message. When it comes to buying planes from supposed allies like Spain, Congress should just say no.