Tom Shannon, US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Monday started a two-day visit to Madrid during which he is to meet with high officials of the Spanish government and Foreign Affairs Ministry, AFP reported.

He is expected to deal with the issue of the Spanish sale of military transportation and surveillance aircrafts to Venezuela, an operation US President George W. Bush administration has vetoed arguing that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is a destabilizing factor in the hemisphere.

Shannon met with the Foreign Affairs Ministry's director general of foreign policy, Rafael Dezcallar, and the director general of foreign policy for Iberoamerica, official sources said.

He is subsequently to attend a luncheon with Spanish State Secretary for Iberoamerica, Bernardino León.

Sources conceded that during these two meetings the issue of the sale of Spanish aircrafts to Venezuela would be addressed.

The Chávez government and Spanish firm EADS-CASA have entered into an agreement providing for the sale to Venezuela of military planes comprising US technology.

"This is one the issues of common interest," the sources said, as quoted by AFP.

In return, the United States Embassy in Madrid refused to provide any information on Shannon's agenda for "security reasons."

When asked about the visit, the US diplomat delegation in Spain told AFP that there would be no coverage of Shannon's visit to Spain, even though this country is out of his area of work.