Venezuela threatens to hand over US jets to Cuba and China

VENEZUELA'S president has threatened to give Cuba and China F-16 fighter aircraft from his arsenal, insisting that the US has failed to fulfil its maintenance commitments for the combat planes.

President Hugo Chavez, who has overtaken his ally Fidel Castro of Cuba as the regional nemesis for the Bush White House, said: "We can do whatever we want with the planes. Maybe we'll send 10 to Cuba, or maybe to China so that they can see the technology."

The donation or sale of the F-16s would violate agreements concerning the exchange of military hardware without US permission and put further strain on relations between the two countries. However, the Venezuelan F-16s were bought in 1983 and are not believed to contain any sensitive technology.

More worrying for the US are a series of Venezuelan arms purchases made possible thanks to high oil prices. Venezuela sits astride huge oil reserves and is one of the principal suppliers of oil to the US.

Mr Chavez has used his oil revenues not just to boost his socialist "revolution", but to sign a series of arms contracts with Russia, Spain and Brazil, which include 100,000 new AK assault rifles, helicopters and boats.

Mr Chavez is also looking to purchase new fighter aircraft and has been flirting with Russia and China, with the current favourite being Russia's MiG-29.

"We are going to buy Chinese planes, if they are the best, or Russian fighters, to defend our sovereignty," Mr Chavez said.

A US State Department spokesman said: "Venezuela's plans to purchase various types and large quantities of weapons are extremely troubling."

He added that "our concerns about these weapons purchases are heightened by Venezuela's tolerance for groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Colombian terrorist group the National Liberation Army and others".

President George Bush will certainly cross paths with Mr Chavez at the Summit of the Americas, which begins today in Argentina and attracts leaders from 34 nations.

While protests are being organised against Mr Bush, Mr Chavez seems assured of a warm welcome in Mar del Plata, 230 miles south of Buenos Aires, as he continues his verbal onslaught against Washington.

"In Mar del Plata, I will say that Venezuela is free," Mr Chavez said. "The capitalist, imperialist model threatens to destroy life on this planet. It's a system that generates misery, poverty, death."

Mr Chavez is also committed to burying a regional free trade agreement that Mr Bush is keen to promote, insisting that it is designed to keeping Latin nations trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Argentina has had to boost security for the summit after anti-Bush protesters set fire to a train station and took on police. They have promised more demonstrations once Mr Bush arrives.

Mr Chavez's opposition to the Bush White House began after April 2002 when the US recognised a government of a short-lived coup that removed Mr Chavez from power. Since then he has accused Washington of trying to orchestrate other coups and of trying to assassinate him.