WASHINGTON (PL) – Two dozen US congress members have asked President George W. Bush to deny political asylum to the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and to permit his extradition to Venezuela.

In a message that came into the hands of Prensa Latina, the legislators demand that the president support the criminal’s deportation to Caracas, where he is a "fugitive from justice."

In the letter, the politicians remind Bush that on August 26, 2003, he said: "If you harbor a terrorist, if you support a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you are just as guilty as the terrorists."

According to these legislators, the United States should not only reject the asylum application because Posada Carriles is a notorious international terrorist, it should also deport him to Venezuela "for a proper adjudication of the case against him."

"As a sovereign nation, Venezuela has the right to pursue justice in this case," the letter states.

In addition, it affirms, many people died at the hands of Posada Carriles in the attack on a Cuban passenger plane in 1976 with 73 people on board, a crime similar to that of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington.

"It is not only inconceivable to imagine the possibility of granting this terrorist asylum, but also of denying justice to all of the victims of his crimes," the letter states.

Declassified FBI documents demonstrate participation by Posada Carriles in the criminal sabotage of the airplane over Barbados, the letter states.

Likewise, it points to the terrorist’s participation in the assassination of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and his US assistant, Ronnie Moffit on September 21, 1976 in Washington, after detonating a bomb in their car while they were in it.

"That attack was one of the worst acts of foreign terrorism on American soil to that date," the message states.

The letter, which is still being circulated in Congress in search of additional signatures, was signed by Congress members Dennis J. Kucinich, José Serrano, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, James McGovern, Lane Evans, Lynn Woolsey, Sheila Jackson and Ed Pastor.

President Bush’s government has chosen to try Posada Carriles for illegal entry into the country, and announced that his case will be ruled on during a hearing on June 13.