A 2005 U.S. State Department report on terrorism, published in late April, made the same claim. It said, “Venezuela virtually ceased its cooperation in the global war on terror.” It claimed Caracas has provided a safe haven to guerrilla forces operating in Colombia. Under Plan Colombia, initiated by the Clinton administration in 1999, Washington has been providing increasing military aid to Bogotá, amounting to some $4 billion.

According to the Associated Press, Venezuela purchased less than $34 million worth of military equipment from the United States last year, mostly for spare parts for cargo planes.

The U.S. ban formalizes a de facto policy. Last November, Washington blocked sales of eight Spanish patrol boats and 12 aircraft to Venezuela on the grounds the equipment contained U.S. technology. This year, it quashed the sale of four Brazilian jets to Venezuela, citing U.S. components in the aircraft. The Pentagon has also refused to sell spare parts for F-16 fighter jets Caracas bought in the 1980s, before Chávez was elected president.

“The U.S. wants us to be defenseless,” Chávez declared during a recent television address. “It does not want to either sell new weapon systems, or spare parts for old ones.”

On a visit to London when the decision was announced, Chávez told the press the arms ban “doesn’t matter to us at all.” His government has been buying most of its defense equipment from Russia and Spain. Chávez also referred to Washington as an “irrational empire,” which, he said, has a “great capacity to do harm to the countries of the world.”

Washington has backed repeated attempts by sections of the capitalist class in Venezuela to overthrow the Chávez administration. These include the failed military coup in April 2002, a boss lockout centered in the oil industry in December of that year, and a presidential recall referendum in August 2004. These efforts by the Venezuelan capitalists have each failed because of mass mobilizations by workers and peasants, who have gained more space since Chávez came to the presidency to fight for land, jobs, and democratic rights.
 
 
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