CARACAS, June 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez demanded on Tuesday that the United States extradite to Venezuela Luis Posada Carrilles, who is accused of blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976.

    "There are no reasons to doubt that the obligation of the US government is to send that mister (Posada) to Venezuela," said Rodriguez.

    He accused US President George W. Bush of protecting Posada who had committed a terrorist act.

    Posada, 77, was born in Cuba and gained Venezuelan citizenship in 1960. He was sentenced to imprisonment in Venezuela on charges of involvement in the Cubana de Aviacion airliner bombing which killed 73 people in 1976. But he escaped from prison in 1985.

    Posada illegally entered the United States last March and sought asylum there through his lawyer the next month. In mid-May, US authorities arrested Posada for having entered US territory illegally, but has refused to hand him over to Venezuela.

    Earlier this month, the Venezuelan government asked the United States, for the third time, to extradite Posada.

    According to Venezuelan ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, a formal petition for the extradition of Posada was filed on June 15. Enditem