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Profile: Cuban 'plane bomber'

Posade Carriles: "I've always believed in the armed struggle"
Terror suspect Luis Posada Carriles poses a double headache for the United States: his alleged crimes relate to Cuba and its ally Venezuela, and he is a former CIA employee.
The 77-year-old was detained in Miami by immigration agents after apparently slipping into the US illegally.

But he is wanted abroad for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, in which 73 died, and for 1997 bomb attacks on hotels in the Cuban capital Havana, which killed one.

"The Bush administration... is on the horns of a dilemma," Washington-based Cuba analyst Dan Erickson told AFP news agency.

"On the one hand, they don't want to hand Posada Carriles over to antagonist countries... but obviously it's not acceptable to just let him remain free in Miami."

Cuba and Venezuela are both pushing for his extradition. Cuban leader Fidel Castro led a million-strong march through Havana on the day of his arrest to a chant of "Capture the terrorist".

'Hero'

Some Cuban exiles hostile to the communist government in Havana regard Mr Posada Carriles as a hero, said Pepe Hernandez, president of the Cuban American National Foundation.

"He's been fighting one of the worst tyrannies this continent has experienced," Mr Hernandez told AP news agency.

Before his detention in Miami, Mr Posada Carriles, who was born in Cuba but has Venezuelan citizenship, insisted his "only objective" was to fight for Cuba's "freedom".

Reports suggest he was involved in operations against leftists across Latin America over the decades, from Guatemala to El Salvador.

According to declassified US government documents, he once worked for the CIA. The papers also reveal that an FBI informer "all but admitted" that Mr Posada was one of those behind the plane bombing.

In an interview for the Miami Herald newspaper, Mr Posada Carriles denied any involvement in the plane attack but declined to confirm or deny involvement in other violence.

In August of last year, Panama granted him a pardon over a plot to assassinate President Castro during a visit by the Cuban leader to Panama in 2000.

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Caracas 'to try bombing suspect'

Luis Posada Carriles denies involvement in the airliner bombing
Venezuela has sought to reassure the US it will not hand over a Cuban exile accused of bombing an airliner to Fidel Castro's regime if he is extradited.
Anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles, 77, is being held in the US where he is seeking political asylum.

He is wanted by both Cuba and Venezuela in connection with the 1976 attack which killed 73 people.

US officials said they do not turn over those suspected of crimes to any regime that would hand them over to Cuba.

Venezuelan Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel described the US position as "an excuse, a subterfuge, that they are using precisely in order to not approve the extradition".

He insisted that Mr Posada Carriles would appear before the Venezuelan courts if he was extradited.

"There is no possibility that Venezuela would turn him over to another country if Posada Carriles' extradition to Venezuela is approved," he said.

Interviews

Venezuela has formally applied to the US for the extradition of Cuban-born Mr Posada Carriles, who is a Venezuelan citizen.

He was reportedly smuggled into the US earlier this year.

US immigration authorities seized Mr Posada Carriles after he gave media interviews in Miami.

He denies any involvement in the bombing of the Cuban airliner, which exploded during a flight between Caracas and Havana.

The US homeland security department said it was examining his immigration status.

On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched in Havana to urge the US to hand him over.

Mr Posada Carriles has been linked to a series of attacks on Cuban interests over the last four decades.

He was released from prison in Panama last year after he was granted a presidential pardon over an alleged plot to kill President Castro in 2000.

Recently declassified documents show Mr Posada Carriles used to work for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

I still don't see it as the US harboring someone they collaborated with. Yeah they may have collaborated with him...but it seems clear as day that he is in custody... Your article says right in it that he's being held on charges of illegally entering the US. Article seems to be jumping to conclusions here...US caught him and has a right to go forward with the hearing on June 13 I would think...I don't see the Venezuelan gov't catching their man. Doesn't sound like had the Venezuelan gov't caught him, that the US would have intervened. And I don't see how in this article on this June 13th in anyway shows that the US gov't is aiding this man...lots of conspiracies -- see how things play out...people seem to be taking what the guy's lawyer says as gospel...

you got a point there raidnyc but regardlesss of what we might think of Chavez and Castro this man should go back to Jail if he really bombed that plane with all the young people. But since he worked with CIA I guess that will never happen. Games the leaders play meanwhile people suffer.

agree to an extent with what you guys are saying, but Mr. Chavez isn't necessarily the easiest man to deal with either...look at his history in decision/policy making and how the people of Venezuela haver reacted to him...

Hello Mate! Yeah I agree.

Mikael, yeah, that story has been a bit of old news over here in the States. It doesn't get a ton of TV time, surprise, surprise, but people are aware of it. This administration is the ultimate double standard machine and I'm sure they'll come up with some excuse as to why they shouldn't deport this man. It wouldn't be the first time in history our nation has supported a person or nation that others would deem as a terrorist or global threat. Bush will just call him a purveyor of freedom, freedom fighter...guarding the world from the evil Castro, a man that hates freedom, heh, but he's got great cigars, heh, heh, heh...let's not forget he's an evil-doer. My god, I can't believe that we're only 5 months into this moron's 2nd term.

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US accused of 'terror hypocrisy'

Luis Posada Carriles poses a problem for the US government
Venezuela has said the US will be guilty of double standards on terrorism if it does not extradite a Cuban exile wanted over the bombing of a plane.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said the man, Luis Posada Carriles, was "a self-confessed terrorist".

He said the US had no choice but to send him back to Venezuela, where he escaped from jail two decades ago.

Venezuela wants the man to stand trial over the bombing of the Cuban plane in 1976 that killed 76 people.

We demand the US government stop its hypocrisy and its two-faced attitude and send this terrorist, this bandit to Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Mr Posada Carriles - who was born in Cuba but now holds Venezuelan nationality - has denied involvement in the attack on the Cuban airline passenger plane on a flight from Caracas to Havana.

The 77-year-old former CIA collaborator was charged on Thursday with illegal entry into the US - weeks after he smuggled himself into the country.

Mr Posada Carriles will be held in custody until an immigration court hearing on 13 June, US immigration officials said.

His lawyer said he had been given the right to live permanently in the US more than 40 years ago.

'World is watching'

"We demand the US government stop its hypocrisy and its two-faced attitude and send this terrorist, this bandit to Venezuela," Mr Chavez told reporters.

"He is a self-confessed terrorist... The US has no choice, either send him to Venezuela or be seen by the world as protecting terrorism," he said.

"The world is watching," Mr Chavez added.

Mr Posada Carriles escaped a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting a trial on appeal.

He was twice acquitted by Venezuelan courts of plotting to bomb the plane.

The US says it will not deport Mr Posada Carriles to any country that would hand him over to Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba.

Venezuela has said it will not hand Mr Posada Carriles over, and Mr Castro has insisted he will be happy to see him tried there.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday charged Mr Posada with "entering the United States without inspection in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act".

The ICE statement said that Mr Posada Carriles would be able to contest his detention at the hearing before an immigration judge.

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