2005: The Bush Administration Blocked Venezuela’s Purchase of F-16 Fighter Parts from Israel

In 1982, Venezuela purchased 24 F-16 fighter planes from the US. Venezuela was the first Latin American country to receive permission to buy F-16s. The US signed contracts to supply spare parts. By 2005, three of the F-16s had crashed. Of the remaining 21 F-16s, only six were fully mission-capable. In 2005, the US supplied spare parts for the F-16s. However, President Chavez reported that the US did not send parts for weapons systems.[1]

In 2005, Venezuela signed a $100 million contract with an Israeli company to purchase parts for the F-16s. Because the Israeli Company used US technology to make the F16 parts, it had to ask the US for permission to sell the parts to Venezuela. The US refused permission and the deal was called off. US officials justified the veto calling Venezuela “a destabilizing force in the region.”[2][3]

In 2006 Venezuela bought 24 Sukhoi Su-Fighter Jets from Russia.[3] A US Department of State spokesperson said “We have expressed our concern to the Russian government and encouraged them to reconsider the sale.”[4]

US concerns about hemispheric threats from the purchase received no support from neighboring Latin American countries:

·       “The US has adopted a policy designed to isolate the Chavez administration….. However, US policy has been broadly rejected by other countries in the region [who do not share] Washington’s assessment of the threat posed by the Chavez government…..Washington’s attempts to isolate Chavez because of his arms acquisitions have found little echo in the region.” [5]

1.U.S. Claims It Fulfilled Venezuela’s F16 Maintenance Contract, Venezuelanalysis, November 18, 2005

2.U.S. Continues to Block Venezuelan Defense Development, Venezuelanalysis, October 24, 2005.

3. Venezuela to Buy Russian Military Planes, Venezuelanalysis, May 27, 2006

4.  Arms Control Association, Venezuela, Russia Sign Weapons Deal, 2006

5. Perdomo, Catalina and M. Bromley, CBMs in Latin America and the Effect of Arms Acquisitions by Venezuela, Elanco Royal Institute, Working Paper, September 22, 2005.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  2020:U.S. Drug Monitoring Data Show that Venezuela is not a Major Source of Illegal Drugs On March 11, 2020, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) released a Research Report authored by Geoff Ramsey and David Smilde: Beyond the Narcostate Narrative: What U.S. Drug Monitoring Data Says About Venezuela. [1] The Report concluded that: ·         “Venezuela is not a primary transit country for U.S. bound cocaine. About 90% of all    U.S.-bound cocaine is trafficked through Western Caribbean and Eastern Pacific routes, not through Venezuela’s Eastern Caribbean seas.” The Research Report relied on data from the U.S. Interagency Consolidated Counterdrug Database (CCDB), a multi-source collection of global illegal drug trafficking events that is gathered from intelligence data such as detection and surveillance as well as interdiction and law enforcement data. The authors noted that:” According to the Department of Defense ‘The ...
Read more

The Venezuela Reader - A Blog Focused on Recent History and Venezuela-U.S. Relations

Image
  The Venezuela Reader- A Blog Focused on Recent History and Venezuela-U.S. Relations My name is Leonard G.- I am The Venezuela Reader. I am a retired agricultural policy analyst living in the Washington, DC area. After retirement and when Covid closed off many activities, I began reading about US foreign policy. I was particularly intrigued by Venezuela. So, I began reading about Venezuela five years ago and haven’t stopped. Faced with mountains of paper, I took it on myself to summarize events in Venezuela’s history and in its relations with the US. I challenged myself to write one-page summaries which are factually accurate and documented with outside sources -newspaper articles, academic articles, government reports. I have already drafted over 200 one-page summaries covering events and milestones including elections, riots, court rulings, US sanctions, oil policies, social policies, food and agriculture, racism, drug trafficking, important reports, and biographies. I am...
Read more
Image
  2025:Former United Nations Drug Official Calls Venezuelan Narco-State Narrative a Great Hoax   Pino Arlacchii was the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) from 1997 to 2002. He recently wrote an article about the U.S. declaration that Venezuela is a “narco-state.” [1] His article was translated into English and released by Venezuelanalysis. [2] Here are excerpts from his article:[2]   Pino Arlacchi : The Great Hoax Against Venezuela: Oil Geopolitics Disguised as “War on Drugs” ·        “During my time as head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), I frequently travelled to Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, but never to Venezuela. There was simply no need. ·        “The Venezuelan government’s collaboration in the fight against drug trafficking was among the best in South America, rivalled only by Cuba’s impeccable record. This makes Trump’s nar...
Read more