MADRID (Reuters) – A Spanish judge has asked the government to begin extradition proceedings against a man living in Venezuela who is suspected of training members of Basque separatist group ETA.
Arturo Cubillas, identified by local media as a Spaniard who has worked for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government for over a decade, is charged with conspiracy to commit homicide and stockpiling explosives in collaboration with ETA, court documents showed.
He faces up to 30 years in jail. High court judge Eloy Velasco suggested that Spain request that Venezuela revoke Cubillas’ citizenship.
The case has fuelled long-running accusations against Chavez’s leftist government that it supports militants.
Chavez has strenuously denied the charges and Venezuela recently launched a probe into whether Cubillas had trained two ETA suspects in the South American country.
ETA has killed more than 850 people in four decades of armed struggle for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwest France.
ETA announced a truce last month but the Spanish government has said it will accept nothing short of permanent disarmanent by the separatist group, which has been weakened by arrests of key members in recent years.
