Venezuela to request Posada Carriles?

According to an attorney with the Venezuelan government the Chavez administration will seek the extradition of alleged bomber Luis Posada Carriles (image). As reported by the AP today:

"This is a new administration (in the U.S.) and Venezuela sees this as a fresh start in matters of mutual cooperation. What we're hoping is that this case will not be seen as politicized, as the Bush administration made it, and will evaluate it on its merits," (attorney Jose) Pertierra told The Associated Press by telephone from Washington.

"If it's considered only on its legal merits, we're confident that the secretary of state will extradite him."

Pertierra remarks echo those made by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez last month who exhorted “President Obama, send us the terrorist”.

The 80-year-old Posada Carriles is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela for supposedly masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban plane that killed all 73 people on board. In 2005, U.S. authorities arrested Posada Carriles for immigration fraud charges yet the ex-C.I.A. operative was released nearly two years ago.

Posada Carriles’ Miami-based attorney- Art Hernandez- told the miamiherald.com that his client cannot be sent to Venezuela due to a 2005 immigration court ruling in his favor. “There is a removal order for Posada, except to Venezuela or Cuba, and no measurable change in the quality or nature of the Venezuelan government has occurred that would warrant any change in the posture in the situation of removability or extradition,” added Hernandez.

Some Cuban exiles in the U.S. have celebrated Posada Carriles despite his criminal background.

Image- New York Times
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, miamiherald.com, AP, Wikipedia