May 18, 2005 10:56 PM
Venezuela Wants Cuban Exile Extradited
By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela pressed its demand Wednesday for the United States to extradite a Cuban exile accused in a 1976 airliner bombing and promised not to send the suspect on to Cuba.
Venezuela wants to try Luis Posada Carriles, 77, for the attack that killed 73 people when the Cuban airliner exploded after departing from Caracas. U.S. immigration authorities detained him Tuesday in Miami, where he was living while awaiting a decision on his request for U.S. political asylum.
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the U.S. government would be accused of having a double-standard when it comes to fighting terrorism if it refuses to surrender him to Venezuelan authorities.
"It would be condemned around the world," Rangel said. "It seems that for some there is a good terrorism and a bad terrorism."
Since escaping from a Venezuelan prison in 1985, Posada - who at one point was on the CIA payroll - has spent most of the time moving stealthily from country to country, thereby avoiding being tried for masterminding the bombing.
Rangel said if extradited, Posada would face justice in Venezuela and would not be sent to Cuba.
U.S. officials have said they would not hand over those suspected of crimes to any country that would then turn them over to the government of Fidel Castro, Chavez's close ally.
But Castro has repeatedly ruled out trying to extradite Posada, saying he should be tried in Venezuela or by an international court.
Rangel called the idea that Posada could be sent to Cuba "an excuse, a subterfuge, that they are using precisely in order to not approve the extradition."
Rangel cited a 1922 treaty between the U.S. and Venezuela and said the United States is obliged to extradite Posada, who he maintains is linked to "horrendous criminal acts."
Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan citizen, escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting a prosecutor's appeal of his second acquittal in the Cubana Airlines bombing.
Posada has denied involvement in the bombing, but recently declassified CIA and FBI documents quoted informants linking him to planning meetings for the bombing. U.S. documents indicate he was on the CIA's payroll until months before the 1976 bombing.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and close ally Castro say Posada is one of the worst terrorists in the Americas, and Castro led hundreds of thousands in a Tuesday march in Havana to demand his arrest.
"This case is going to be emblematic, really, to assess exactly what is the final position of the American government and particularly President Bush with respect to terrorism," Rangel said. "It seems that for some there is a good terrorism and a bad terrorism."
Castro said Wednesday that the U.S. picked up Posada as a face-saving move after his presence there for two months presence became an embarrassment.
"What has occurred is a big farce, a big lie, an attempt to escape from a difficult situation," Castro said on a current events show on Cuban state TV. He also expressed doubt that Posada would be returned to Venezuela.
Posada and three other Cuban dissidents were pardoned in August by Panama's president for their role in an alleged assassination plot against Castro in 2000 during a conference in Panama. Posada also was connected to 1997 bombings of tourists sites in Cuba, one of which killed an Italian tourist.
"He had been in the United States for more than two months," Rangel said. "U.S. authorities denied his presence until Posada Carriles finally appeared."
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