In mid-May the Bush administration had announced the banning of all U.S. arms sales to Venezuela. Last November, Washington blocked the sale of eight Spanish patrol boats and 12 aircraft to Venezuela on the grounds that the equipment contained U.S. technology. Citing the same reason, they prevented Venezuela from buying four Brazilian jets.

During his visit to Russia, Chávez said the new weapons were badly needed because of the U.S. arms ban. “We are breaking the U.S. blockade that was aimed at disarming Venezuela,” he told the media.

The 24 Su-30 fighter jets will replace the Venezuelan air force of about 20 U.S. F-16 jets, most of which are in disrepair because Washington has refused to provide replacement parts.

“We are not going to attack anyone, but nobody should make a mistake with us, especially the U.S. empire that wants to dominate the world with cannons and bombs,” the Venezuelan president said.

The U.S. government tried unsuccessfully to pressure Moscow to drop the arms sale. At a July 25 news conference, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Washington had repeatedly told Russian officials that “the arms purchases planned by Venezuela exceeded its defensive needs and are not helpful in terms of regional stability.”

Earlier this year, despite strong U.S. government objections, Moscow signed a contract to sell 100,000 Kalashnikov AK-103 automatic rifles to Venezuela. As of late June, some 30,000 of these had been delivered. The Russian government has now agreed to build a factory in Venezuela to produce the bulk of these rifles.

“Venezuela is not the target of any sanctions, and we already have developed bilateral military-technical cooperation,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in June, in defense of the arms agreements. “If an opportunity to sell our weapons at a good price arises, we will do that.”

Russian energy firms are also cooperating with Caracas in conducting energy exploratory work in Venezuela’s Orinoco basin. The Russian state energy company Gazprom has also secured licenses to work on the Rafael Urdaneta gas field in the Gulf of Venezuela.

While expressing “concerns” over Caracas’s arms purchases from Russia, Washington continues to pour billions in military aid into Colombia and other Latin American countries. The U.S. government has backed repeated efforts by sections of the Venezuelan ruling class to overthrow the Chávez-led government. This includes a failed military coup in April 2002, an employers’ lockout 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 since Chávez took office have gained more space to fight for land, jobs, and democratic rights.  
 
 
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