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Chávez slams U.S. over planes
Miami Herald ^ | 1/11/2006 | Christopher Toothaker (AP)

Posted on 01/11/2006 11:32:02 AM PST by FerdieMurphy

CARACAS,VENEZUELA-Venezuela's president told soldiers he will buy jets from Russia or China if the U.S. won't send parts for his country's F-16s.

President Hugo Chávez said Tuesday that Venezuela would consider buying Russian-built MiGs or Chinese warplanes if the United States fails to honor a contract to supply his country with parts for its F-16 jets.

Chávez also accused Washington of blocking Venezuela's acquisition of Super Tucano military planes from Brazil because the jets are built with U.S. technology and suggested he could turn to China or Russia.

''The contract for Brazil to make us some planes, which are for training, could not be signed because of the United States,'' said Chávez, speaking to hundreds of soldiers at a military fort in Caracas.

''We will have to wait to see if Brazil can resolve the problem. If not, well, they produce fighter jets and bombers in China, too,'' he added.

A spokesperson for the Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A., or Embraer, refused to comment on the proposed deal between Venezuela and Brazil.

Chávez said the United States has failed to supply the parts needed to keep Venezuela's F-16s flying, but U.S. officials said replacement parts for U.S.-made warplanes have recently been sent to the South American nation.

''If we have to substitute the fleet of F-16s with a modern fleet of MiGs we will do it, nothing is going to stop us,'' said Chávez, an ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Brian Penn, a U.S. embassy official, denied the United States has failed to send replacement parts. Cartridges for F-16 ejector seats arrived at Caracas' La Guaira international airport on a C-17 cargo plane in November, Penn said in a telephone interview. Penn said he did not have any information about Venezuela's plans to purchase planes from neighboring Brazil.

Venezuela purchased its fleet of 21 F-16s in 1983U.S. officials have said the 1982 contract does not obligate the United States to supply parts indefinitely to Venezuela or to upgrade the planes.

Chávez also urged Venezuela's military to prepare for a possible invasion by the United States.

He said Venezuela would never enter an armed conflict with any of its Latin American neighbors, but could eventually be forced to repel a military invasion by U.S. troops. ''If we are going to war, the only war possible for us would be the one that we are obliged to make against an invasion by North American imperialism,'' he said. U.S. officials have repeatedly said there is no plan to invade Venezuela, but Chávez has called on his countrymen to prepare for a conflict by learning to use a firearm and joining the nation's military reserve. Chávez said he is creating a new socialist system in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Chávez also said he is certain the U.S. is conspiring to try to overthrow Bolivia's leftist President-elect Evo Morales, his close friend and ally.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: chavez; citgoboycott; communist; venezuela
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To: VeniVidiVici

Nope. Got a big grin on my mug as we "speak". And it would be really hilarious if those cartridges are all "faulty".


21 posted on 01/11/2006 12:04:41 PM PST by snuffy smiff ("the theory of Communism may be summed up in a single sentence:abolition of private property"-K.Marx)
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To: FerdieMurphy

Who cares...yawn.


22 posted on 01/11/2006 12:05:09 PM PST by Frenetic
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To: FerdieMurphy

23 posted on 01/11/2006 12:06:02 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: FerdieMurphy
..Venezuela would consider buying Russian-built MiGs or Chinese warplanes...

Wooops! They've caught on!

24 posted on 01/11/2006 12:08:26 PM PST by Snickersnee (Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?)
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To: VeniVidiVici
Am I the only one who finds it funny that out of ALL the parts they could've mentioned, they mentioned "ejector seats"?

It's good someone still has a sense of humor in the military. :)

"Well, what we can send you is ejector seat cartidges and some parachutes with a nice target design, how many would you like?"
25 posted on 01/11/2006 12:10:01 PM PST by Daus
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To: FerdieMurphy
This whole situation finally made me have a flashback of that (pre-perv) Woody Allen movie "Bananas." He is actually amusing in that his rhetoric is so predictable.

This guy thinks he has a Castro-like tenure ahead of him with some great legacy and that two-bit back-slapping from washed-up nobodies like Bellafonte make those who could help affect having him crushed laugh at his childish grandstanding.

The imagined "millions" of Americans supporting his "great revolution" are maybe a relative handful of pimple-faced snots at mediocre colleges wearing pizza-stained Che' shirts to queer studies courses between shifts at Wendy's.

I will be much more aware of a Citgo pump anywhere I am looking to refill.

26 posted on 01/11/2006 12:13:50 PM PST by 101st-Eagle
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To: Rakkasan1

101st bump


27 posted on 01/11/2006 12:15:35 PM PST by 101st-Eagle
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To: snuffy smiff

Do you mean faulty as in:

1) They don't work when they are supposed to?

or

2) They occasionally and randomly work when they are NOT supposed to.


Personally, I prefer #2.


28 posted on 01/11/2006 12:22:16 PM PST by WayneS (Honor the 2nd Amendment; repeal the 16th.)
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To: gridlock
I recall something happening like this a few decades ago.

Peru, I think, wanted F-16s from the US. They were too expensive. So they decided to buy MiGs from China. The Chinese sent them over... but they arrived in boxes with assembly instructions. In Chinese. And Russian. They had one hell of a time putting them together.

29 posted on 01/11/2006 12:23:15 PM PST by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: Rakkasan1

"someone needs to take out this ankle-biting Chihuahua ass"

I believe he suffers from Kim Jong Illness.


30 posted on 01/11/2006 12:26:37 PM PST by beelzepug (only two months till spring training starts.)
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To: in hoc signo vinces

Don't like calling him a loon. If Chavez is a loon, how did he get a country and enough popular support to hold on to it (so far)? How come the commies recently took over another country?
There is something wrong down there. It ain't the leaders, its the people puttin' 'em in charge.

You are correct. Good aircraft are only effective with good pilots. Good pilots are possible only with good training. Remains to be seen how much training the Venezuelan AF gets. At least they should have the fuel for it... Still don't think it will make a difference.


31 posted on 01/11/2006 12:39:52 PM PST by Little Ray (I'm a reactionary, hirsute, gun-owning, knuckle dragging, Christian Neanderthal and proud of it!)
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To: Little Ray

Well as the saying goes; "Lunatics will elect a lunatic."

We almost had that here if Kerry would have been elected, right? VZ just has considerably more loons then we do.


32 posted on 01/11/2006 12:48:05 PM PST by in hoc signo vinces ("Houston, TX...a waiting quagmire for jihadis.")
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To: Bigh4u2
So Chavez is basically saying: "We will smash you evil Yankee pig dogs with the iron fist of socialism. Death to America! And, by the way, I want you to send me more weapons ASAP."

I don't think so. Go buy some more Mig-29s and try not to provoke us into delivering a few hundred JADAMs.

33 posted on 01/11/2006 1:01:30 PM PST by Mad_as_heck (The MSM - America's (domestic) public enemy #1.)
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To: Rakkasan1

"someone needs to take out this ankle-biting Chihuahua ass"

Here, here. I will drink to that one.


34 posted on 01/11/2006 1:07:34 PM PST by ChevyZ28 (852,000 Police Officers serve in the US. Every 53 hours, one of them dies in the line of duty.)
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To: FerdieMurphy

How hard would it be to put a satalite controled ejection seat switch in one of these f-16s? If they fly against us just push the red button at sat comm. AAAAaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! Seems easy.


35 posted on 01/11/2006 1:13:08 PM PST by Walkingfeather
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To: Gordongekko909

Yeah. If we ever went toe-to-toe with ol'citgo boy, his planes would never leave the tarmac. They would be destroyed by the time their pilots made it in their flight suits. And I'm sorry, but an F-16 hasn't got a shot in hell against an F-15 or a Raptor with modern avionics.

So it doesen't really matter if we sell him planes, parts or let him buy russian or chineese crap.


36 posted on 01/11/2006 1:21:40 PM PST by ChinaThreat (s)
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To: Walkingfeather

I say! Smashing idea old boy!


37 posted on 01/11/2006 1:23:32 PM PST by FerdieMurphy (For English, Press One. (Tookie, you won the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes. Oh, too late.))
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To: ChinaThreat

It wouldn't be a war. It would be a few explosions and a surrender. It wouldn't just be us versus them, either; from what I understand, Chavez isn't too popular in South America.


38 posted on 01/11/2006 1:24:56 PM PST by Gordongekko909 (I know. Let's cut his WHOLE BODY off.)
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To: FerdieMurphy
Chávez also accused Washington of blocking Venezuela's acquisition of Super Tucano military planes from Brazil because the jets are built with U.S. technology

Nitpick: The Super Tucano, by Embraer, is a very cool aircraft; But it is not a jet, as you can see by the whirly thing on the front, it is a turbo-prop.

39 posted on 01/11/2006 1:27:39 PM PST by Chuckster (Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset)
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To: FerdieMurphy

He is dumber than dog crap. Unfortunately people are buying off on it. By people I mean lieberal idiots and commies.


40 posted on 01/11/2006 1:33:16 PM PST by vpintheak (Liberal = The antithesis of Freedom and Patriotism)
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