Venezuela's Chavez calls Bush administration a 'mafia,announces plan to b

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela's Chavez calls Bush administration a 'mafia, announces plan to buy Russian military planes
The Associated Press

Published on 2006-05-25 10:28 (KST)

President Hugo Chavez compared U.S. President George W. Bush to the infamous mobster Al Capone on Wednesday, and said Venezuela will buy Russian fighter jets because the U.S. has blocked sales of replacement parts for its military planes.

Chavez took sharp issue with Bush's remarks this week about an ''erosion of democracy'' in Venezuela, and also criticized a U.S. move to curtail arms sales after Washington said the South American nation was failing to cooperate in counterterrorism efforts.
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Chavez said his military has been able to maintain its U.S.-made Hercules transport planes only with great effort.

''We can't maintain them anymore. Why? Because the parts are American,'' he said. ''Now what am I going to do? Buy some Antonovs from Russia -- modern transport planes.'' Chavez didn't say how many planes, but he has previously said Venezuela is considering buying Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-35 fighter jets to replace the country's aging fleet of U.S.-made F-16s -- for which the U.S. had stopped selling him upgrades.
(snip/...)

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