Venezuelan authorities and relatives of two accused terrorists seeking asylum in Miami disagree on the evidence against them.

  BY ALFONSO CHARDY

  CARACAS - A politically sensitive case in which Venezuela is seeking to extradite two accused terrorists who filed for asylum in Miami on Tuesday is centered on a witness who claims he overheard others saying the pair set off two bombs here.

  Venezuela's request for the extradition of National Guard Lts. José Antonio Colina, 29, and Germán Varela, 31, could prove embarrassing for Washington, which may have to choose between harboring men accused of terrorism and sending them back to face what their relatives call a frame-up.

  The U.S. decision may ultimately rest less on the evidence against the two than on how U.S. officials interpret the U.S.-Venezuelan extradition treaty, which contains some provisions against extradition of political asylum seekers.

  During back-to-back hearings Tuesday at the Krome detention center, a U.S. immigration judge agreed to hear the pair's asylum requests but did not consider the
  extradition request. Colina's next court date was scheduled for March 18 and Varela's on March 22. The extradition request would likely be handled by a separate court in parallel proceedings.

  Although the two men are National Guard lieutenants, their backgrounds are different. Varela is the son of one of Venezuela's most powerful former military chiefs.
  Colina's parents are from one of the poorest neighborhoods in Caracas.

  Both were among some 100 Venezuelan military officers who rebelled against leftist President Hugo Chávez and joined at rallies at Altamira Plaza in a well-to-do Caracas neighborhood in late 2002 and early 2003.

  They fled Venezuela after judge Deyanira Nieves issued an arrest warrant for them Nov. 14. They arrived in Miami in December on a flight from Colombia and have been in detention since.

  BLAME SHIFTED

  The Feb. 25 bombings of the Spanish embassy and Colombian consulate, which caused four injuries, were originally blamed on the pro-Chávez Bolivarian Liberation Front guerrilla group after its leaflets were found nearby. The explosions came less than 36 hours after Chávez criticized the Madrid and Bogotá governments for meddling in Venezuela's affairs.

  But late last year, Venezuelan prosecutors linked the blasts to four anti-Chávez military officers involved in the Altamira protests, including Varela and Colina. Their
  families say the government deliberately shifted the blame to portray the opposition as violent and to cover up for Chávez's friends.

  Judge Nieves declined a request for an interview, and Gilberto Landaeta, the prosecutor assigned to the case, declined comment. But a spokesman at the prosecutor's office detailed some of the evidence linking Varela and Colina to the blasts.

  Investigators checking records of cellphone calls made from around the blast site found one call, roughly around the time of the blasts, made by a man involved in the Altamira protests, the spokesman said.

  TAINTED CHECK

  They eventually established that the man had bought the cellphone, the spokesman added, with a check supplied by another Altamira officer charged in the case, Gen. Felipe Rodríguez -- whose whereabouts are unknown.

  One witness claimed to have seen Varela and Colina leave Altamira on the night of the blasts on motorcycles carrying bundles, the spokesman added, noting that a
  security guard at one of the blast sites had reported he may have heard a motorcycle just before the explosion.

  Finally, the spokesman went on, a key witness came forward.

  Silvio Merida, who was handling the sound system at the Altamira Plaza, told authorities that he knew that Varela and Colina had carried out the bombings.

  FLAT ASSERTION

  In his written statement before Judge Nieves, a copy of which was given to The Herald by Varela's father, retired Gen. Germán Varela, Merida flatly asserts the two carried out the attacks.

  ''The ones who activated, or the one who activated, at the embassy of Colombia was Lieutenant Colina of the National Guard; the one who activated at the embassy of Spain was Lieutenant Varela,'' Merida says.

  He adds that they detonated the explosives with signals from their cellulars, describes the type of cellulars involved and acknowledges that he learned those details from other people at the plaza.

  But Merida also says, in a brief and muddled part of his statement, that he had been kidnapped and tortured by unidentified gunmen and was then ''rescued,'' also by unidentified persons, just five days before he went before Judge Nieves.

  The passage proves that Merida was tortured into implicating the two lieutenants, the elder Varela said.

  ''We understand . . . that he was tortured to convince him to make his statement,'' he said.