US accused of backing destabilization in Venezuela
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel on Saturday accused the United States of supporting the opposition to launch a new destabilization campaign in the country.

The main target of the US-financed campaign is Venezuela's state-run petroleum company PDVSA, Rangel said, adding that a second target is the country's poor, to whom the United States is providing assistance.

Meanwhile, the United States also instigated Venezuela's military to rise against the government, backing it with media propaganda and financing, said Rangel, who described Washington asa "terror exporter."

The opposition is preparing a "second assault on PDVSA," said Rangel. He accused the United States of supporting the April 2002coup d'etat against President Hugo Chavez and the national strike that paralyzed the country's oil industry at the end of 2002.

Rangel made the remarks during a demonstration in the capital to demand the extradition by the United States of a Cuban exile wanted by Caracas for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

The protest came one day after the United States rejected Venezuela's request that Luis Posada Carriles, the Cuban exile with Venezuelan citizenship, be arrested and extradited to Venezuela to face trial.

The protesters also voiced their support for the PDVSA, the economic pillar of the oil-rich country which has faced charges ofcorruption and mismanagement from opponents of Chavez in recent weeks.