Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday condemned as "negative" the United States' rejection of an initial attempt by his government to extradite a Cuban exile accused of bombing an airliner. Chavez repeated a warning made just over a week ago that he would review relations with the United States, Venezuela's biggest oil buyer, if Washington did not agree to the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles.
Posada, a former CIA collaborator, is accused of plotting from Venezuela the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. The 77-year-old anti-communist militant, who is a naturalized Venezuelan, escaped from a Venezuelan jail in 1985. Left-winger Chavez, a fierce critic of President Bush, expressed disappointment at the U.S. decision on Friday to reject Venezuela's request that Posada be arrested for extradition.
"They've given a sign, a negative one," Chavez said. "It's a worrying sign," he said during a cabinet meeting broadcast live on state television. Venezuela plans to deliver a formal extradition request for Posada to U.S. authorities on Tuesday. Chavez accused Bush, whom he mockingly referred to as "Mr Danger," of "sheltering a terrorist."
The U.S. government told Venezuela on Friday its request that Posada be arrested for extradition was "clearly inadequate," because it lacked supporting evidence. Chavez scoffed at this. "And what about those CIA and FBI documents that you have over there, Mr Danger? ... You know the truth much more than we do," he said. He was referring to declassified U.S. intelligence documents which cite informants as saying that Posada, who once worked with Venezuela's security services, had plotted to bomb a Cuban airliner with other Cuban exiles.
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