Communist Party of Australia

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has repeated his request to the United States government for the extradition of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and former President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who was responsible for the Caracazo massacre.

Chávez said that US President Barack Obama should hand over Posada Carriles, a fugitive from Venezuelan justice and the mastermind behind the mid-flight explosion of a Cuban passenger plane in 1976 that caused the deaths of the 73 people on board.

During a telephone interview on the “La Hojilla” television program last week morning, the president also called for former president Carlos Andrés Pérez to be handed over. Despite being wanted by the Venezuelan judicial system, Pérez is also protected by the United States.

Chávez recalled the repression unleashed in Venezuela on February 27, 1989, when the people took part in a rebellion – subsequently known as El Caracazo – to protest against the economic measures adopted by former President Pérez.

Two decades after El Caracazo, he emphasised, those responsible for the situation have still not been brought to trial, as is the case of the former president.

The Venezuelan head of state also demanded that the US government correct a State Department report accusing Venezuela and other countries of human rights violations.

“We should not hold any great expectations with this new US government. It will continue to be an empire, and empires ride roughshod over the peoples. And now this one is irresponsibly accusing us of human rights violations,” he underlined.

Granma

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