International Trade Law News

The de facto U.S. arms embargo on Venezuela continues, as State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack announced on Friday that the U.S. Government has informed Spain that the U.S. denied licenses for Spain to transfer U.S. technology contained in 12 aircraft that Spain intends to sell to Venezuela. The licenses were denied on grounds that "the proposed sale of military equipment and components to Venezuela could contribute to destabilization in Latin America." McCormack said the decision to deny the licenses was "a policy judgment of the United States government" and that such decisions "are reviewed carefully with input from a variety of different agencies, from DOD, from the intelligence community, from the Department of State as well as other agencies around the government. But I think that when you're talking about armed patrol boats, maritime control aircraft, as well as other kinds of aircraft, it raises a lot of questions about their potential use and what effect that may have on the stability in the region."

Spain agreed in 2005 to sell Venezuela four Spanish coastal patrol ships, four corvettes, 10 C-295 transport planes and two CN-235 maritime surveillance planes as part of a $2 billion arms package.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said earlier this week there were signs the U.S. may block a pending sale of Brazilian light combat and reconnaissance planes to Venezuela, and that his government would try to persuade U.S. officials not to veto the deal.