Is Spain distancing itself from EADS CASA deal?

Spain's Socialist Workers Party government, which brokered the $600 million EADS CASA deal with Venezuela, looks as if it's distancing itself from the project.

With EADS CASA unable to find adequate replacement parts for all 58 US-made components, it finds itself in the embarrassing situation of not being able to deliver for the Hugo Chavez regime - its biggest foreign client - while it tries to compete for the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) contract.

Un-named Spanish officials responded to questions from the EFE news agency about the statement of retired Venezuelan General Alberto Muller that the deal was falling through.

"Sources in the Spanish government told EFE that they don't have any confirmation of Muller's declarations relative to the cancelation of the purchase, and underlined that the operation is a question that affects a private business.

Spanish Foreign Ministry source told EFE that the government "treats the operation as 'purely commercial' between the EADS CASA company and Venezuelan authorities."

If true, that means that EADS CASA lobbyists in Washington were lying when they said the Venezuela deal was beyond the company's control and was the responsibility of CASA, the formerly state-owned Spanish aircraft manufacturer that was privatized when it was incorporated into EADS.