Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Thursday demanded the US government stop putting on a show and hand over a terrorist with Venezuelan citizenship to face justice in his country.

Chavez made the remark after the United States immigration authorities Tuesday arrested 77-year-old Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born exile with Venezuelan citizenship, but refused to hand him over to Venezuela to face justice over his involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger jet that killed 73 people.

The Venezuelan leader said the United States has been putting on a show, as the terrorist had been hidden all along in the past weeks in the US and was actually under the protection of the US government, but Washington said it did not know anything about his whereabouts.

The United States only arrested Posada after his lawyer openly sought political asylum for him in April, but refused handing him over to Venezuela under various pretexts.

Warning the United States against using a "double-standard" in its war on terrorism, Chavez demanded the US government hand over Posada to Venezuela.

Posada went to Venezuela in the 1960s, where he became a citizen. He was sentenced to jail by a Venezuela court for his part in the organization of the 1976 attack on a Cuban airliner, but escaped in 1985.

He was also involved in a series of bomb attacks in Havana in 1997, which led to the death of an Italian vacationer.

Posada illegally entered the United States two months ago and tried to seek asylum there through his lawyer in April.

The Venezuelan government on May 13 officially requested Posada 's extradition from the United States.

Source: Xinhua