Venezuela makes another demand for extradition of U.S. terrorist suspect

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday restated Venezuela's request for the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to stand trial on charges of masterminding a 1976 bomb attack on a Cuban airliner.

Maduro made the request during his meeting with his visiting Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque as part of the 11th Venezuela-Cuba political consultation mechanism. Maduro said he would demand Posada's extradition at an international court, the name of which he did not reveal.

Venezuela has been seeking Posada's extradition since it found evidence of his participation in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner off Barbados that killed all 73 people aboard, including a Cuban fencing team.

Roque, speaking at a news conference after the meeting, accused the United States of maintaining a "hypocritical double standard" in its anti-terror war.

Cuba-born and later naturalized in Venezuela, Posada, 79, is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela as a terrorist on charges of downing the airliner and other bomb attacks. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985. He was also sentenced in Panama to eight years in prison in 2000, but outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso de Gruber pardoned him in 2004.

A U.S. judge dismissed immigration fraud charges against Posada and released him on Tuesday, arousing strong opposition from Cuba and Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has sought to raise the case at the United Nations, hoping to win a UN condemnation against the U.S harboring of a terrorist.

Source: Xinhua