Chavez aircraft supplier turns to Bolivia

The controversial European supplier of military aircraft to the Chavez regime now has a new customer: The Venezuelan-backed revolutionary government of Evo Morales in Bolivia.

EADS CASA's latest Latin American customer is the militantly anti-US government led by the democratically elected former chief of the coca growers' union - a linchpin in international organized crime's cocaine trafficking industry. Morales has spurned the US and allied himself with Caracas and state sponsors of terrorism.

"The Ministry of National Defense, the Bolivian Air Force and the Army, signed an agreement with the Spanish 'EADS CASA' enterprise, for the acquisition of three CASA C-212 S-100 aircraft, two for the Bolivian Air Force and one for the Army," RedBolivia.com reports.

The small military cargo planes, which were formerly owned by the Spanish army, are excellent for Bolivia's many short and unpaved airstrips. They can be reconfigured to haul cargo, serve as medevac craft, or hold up to 21 paratroopers. The C-212 can also be converted into a gunship.

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chaves has said he plans to distribute Kalashnikov assault rifles throughout Bolivia to prop up the Morales government.

Bolivian President Morales, pictured with Chavez and Fidel Castro, is considered the most extremist South American leader after Chavez.