Venezuela ups extradition demand

Luis Posada Carriles denies involvement in the airliner bombing

The Venezuelan government says it has provided the US with key information on the role of a former CIA agent in the downing of a Cuban airliner.

Venezuela is seeking the extradition of Cuban-born Luis Posada Carriles, who is currently in jail in the US.

The new documents purportedly prove his role in masterminding the 1976 bombing in which 73 people died.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is accusing the US of double standards in its fight against terrorism.

Mr Posada Carriles is now a Venezuelan citizen.

The documents reportedly include testimony by a former employee of Mr Posada Carriles, photographer Hernan Ricardo, who admits placing an explosive device in one of the plane's toilets before disembarking.

Ricardo has served time in jail for the bombing.

According to the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, the documents contain other testimony claiming that Ricardo later phoned Mr Posada Carriles to tell him the operation had been successful.

US documents

The US does not want to extradite the 77-year-old to any country which could hand him over to Cuba.

Two weeks ago, Washington rejected Venezuela's request for Mr Posada Carriles to be arrested and extradited on the grounds that there was not enough supporting evidence against him.

Mr Chavez has threatened to revise relations with the US, which buys energy from the oil-rich country.

In a separate development, newly declassified documents in the US say that Mr Posada Carriles was an informer on Cuban exiles in Miami for CIA, for which he allegedly worked at least between 1965 and June 1976.

Mr Posada Carriles was twice acquitted by Venezuelan courts of plotting to bomb the plane.

He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting a trial on appeal.

Mr Posada Carriles is also wanted by Cuba for the 1997 bombings of two hotels in Havana.