Venezuela's air force will find itself a dozen planes short after Spain cancelled a sale to Hugo Chavez last night. The deal got scotched through US intervention after Washington refused to allow American technology to be transferred to Chavez:

The US has stopped Spain selling 12 military aircraft to Venezuela by refusing to allow American military technology to be used in the planes.

Venezuela planned to buy the aircraft from the Spanish company Eads-Casa but US determination to prevent Hugo Chávez building up his armed forces wrecked the deal, according to the deputy president, José Vicente Rangel. ...

Mr Rangel said replacing the US technology with French or Israeli parts had made the €500m (£335m) deal too costly. Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain's foreign minister, confirmed that what would have been his country's biggest arms deal was now just a sale of naval vessels.

Spain had also refused to support Venezuela's bid for the Security Council seat for Latin America, making Chavez a two-time loser with Madrid. One has to wonder why Spain thought the US would allow the technology transfer to a clearly hostile Chavez, and why the US had to explain it to Spain after they made this deal.

As for Chavez, his big UN speech continues to pay dividends to the Venezuelans. In case he can't recognize this aroma, it's the smell of isolation. If enough of his countrymen start noticing the stink, they might do something about replacing him.

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