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Saab stops Venezuela arms sales
By
Greg Morsbach
BBC News, Caracas
Sweden's
biggest defence manufacturer, the Saab Group, says it will
no longer provide weapons to Venezuela.
Saab
says it cannot continue sales of anti-aircraft and anti-tank
devices to Venezuela because of a US arms embargo against
President Chavez's government.
Saab
subsidiary Bofors has supplied Venezuela's armed forces
for 20 years.
Under
the terms of the American restrictions, no factory in the
world may sell weapons to Venezuela that contain components
made in the US.
Bofors
will cut its commercial ties to Venezuela on 1 October,
complying with the strict embargo put in place by Washington
back in May.
The
Swedes have in the past sold anti-aircraft missiles, rocket
launchers and anti-tank rifles to Venezuela worth around
$150m (£80m).
There
are no new arms contracts in the pipeline at the moment.
But President Chavez will soon need to replenish his stocks
of ammunition and missiles.
Other
doors
The
US embassy in Sweden said it was pleased Saab was complying
with American legislation that prohibited the sale of arms
to countries which did not comply fully with US anti-terrorism
efforts.
The
authorities here in Caracas said they were surprised by
the news.
"We
haven't been notified officially by Bofors but we're taking
this matter very seriously," Defence Minister Raul
Isaias Baduel said in a BBC interview.
"I
can assure you we'll be looking into this and I'll be formulating
a response together with President Hugo Chavez."
A
member of the military high command told the BBC they were
studying the possibility of signing arms deals with Switzerland.
He
said it was a shame the door to Sweden had been closed but
he was sure that others would open soon.
Caracas
has recently been purchasing arms from alternative sources,
such as Russia, where none of the weapons contain American
components.
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