Venezuela has refused to extradite a suspected representative of the militant Basque separatist group ETA to Spain, Spanish press reports said Friday.
However, Caracas will investigate the activities of Arturo Cubillas, 46, an official at the Venezuelan Agriculture Ministry who has lived in the Latin American country since 1989, reports quoted Venezuelan attorney-general Luisa Ortega Diaz as saying.
Ortega said Caracas could not hand over Spanish-born Cubillas, because he had obtained Venezuelan nationality, and the country's constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens.
The Spanish government has stepped up pressure on Caracas over Cubillas, for whom Spain has issued several arrest warrants.
Two ETA suspects who were detained recently said Cubillas had overseen weapons training they received in Venezuela in 2008. Spanish judge Eloy Velasco accuses Caracas of protecting an alliance between ETA and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismisses such claims, describing them as part of an international campaign to tarnish his country's reputation.
The Spanish 'far right' was trying to link him with terrorism and drug trafficking, Chavez said. The FARC gets a part of its income from the drug trade.
Around 100 people demonstrated Thursday in front of the Venezuelan embassy in Madrid, accusing the Spanish government of not being tough enough on Caracas over ETA.
ETA, which has killed about 850 people since 1968 in its campaign for a sovereign Basque state, is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.