May 28, 2005

Venezuelans March Through Capital to Demand Extradition of Cuban Militant
By Christopher Toothaker
Associated Press Writer


CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Tens of thousands of Venezuelans backing President Hugo Chavez marched through the capital Saturday demanding the United States extradite a Cuban militant wanted for his alleged role in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.
Waving Venezuelan flags, and dancing to songs celebrating Chavez's rule broadcast over loudspeakers mounted on flatbed trucks, the president's supporters accused U.S. President George W. Bush of harboring terror suspect Luis Posada Carriles and of a double standard in dealing with terrorists.

"Bush is protecting a terrorist while he is supposedly fighting against terrorism, that's hypocrisy," said Pedro Caldera, a 34-year-old who works at a government-organized farming project in a Caracas suburb.

The march, which was sponsored by Chavez's "revolutionary" government, came a day after U.S. authorities reject Venezuela's request for the arrest of Posada as an initial step toward his eventual extradition.

Venezuela wants to try Posada, an ex-CIA operative, on murder charges for the bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane that exploded after taking off from Barbados, killing 73 people.

Posada is accused of plotting the attack while in Caracas and escaping from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 as prosecutors were preparing to appeal his acquittal.

The 77-year-old naturalized Venezuelan, who is a radical opponent of Cuba's Fidel Castro, has denied any link to the bombing.

The U.S. Department of Justice ruled Friday that the Venezuelan arrest request "did not include any statement of the evidence against the accused required for the issuance of an arrest warrant in the United States," an administration official said.

Chavez, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, has said that if the United States refuses to extradite Posada, Venezuela may have to reconsider its diplomatic relations with Washington.

U.S. officials have said they will not bow to pressure from Venezuela and that Caracas has yet to formally request Posada's extradition.

"We are preparing the entire file, there are 700 pages and we have two months to present it," Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told the local Union Radio broadcaster. "By the end of the month it will all be ready."

But some protesters in Caracas voiced doubts that even a formal request by Venezuela would result in Posada's extradition.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they don't send him to Venezuela to face justice," said Josefina Caraballo, a 45-year-old housewife. "I don't think they want that bird to sing about his past with the CIA."

Other protesters chanted "We Want Justice!" and "Bush Sides With Terrorists!" One group held up a banner reading "Bush: The Phantom Menace," and sported a portrait of Bush in a black robe next to Darth Vader, the villain in the "Star Wars" movies.

Castro blames Posada for a string of 1997 bombings in Cuba, one of which killed an Italian tourist. Posada was jailed in Panama in 2000 for an alleged plot to assassinate Castro during a conference, but he was pardoned last August by Panama's outgoing president.

Then in March, Posada surfaced in Miami after crossing the U.S. border with Mexico to seek asylum in the United States. He is now in U.S. custody in El Paso, Texas, facing deportation on charges of entering the United States illegally earlier this year.

Posada is claiming U.S. residency status first gained in 1962 and political asylum, in part because of his past work for the CIA.
Chavez opponents staged a much smaller, rival march on Saturday to protest what they perceive as a government crackdown on dissidents and the president's plan to establish a socialist economic model in Venezuela.

"This regime is jailing its opponents unjustly, using prosecutors as pawns and now Chavez is taking down a road toward communism," said Maria Teresa Martin, 49. "He must be stopped before it's too late."

Martin said Posada may be a terror suspect, but he shouldn't be turned over to Venezuela because Chavez would send him to Cuba, "where he would be killed."

Venezuelan officials have repeatedly vowed not to send Posada to the communist-led island if the United States extradites him.

AP-ES-05-28-05 1527EDT

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