[News] New charges against international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles

Thu Apr 9 12:20:33 EDT 2009

Posada Indicted for 1997 Cuba Bombings

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={E5948224-62B9-44D3-921B-A8EA8111EFC6})&language=EN

Havana, Apr 9 (Prensa Latina) New charges have 
been pressed against international terrorist Luis 
Posada Carriles, who is now being accused of 
lying about his involvement in the 1997 bombings against Cuban tourist spots.

The US prosecutors, in a surprise move, are 
charging the Cuban native and naturalized 
Venezuelan citizen of lying to federal 
authorities about his involvement in soliciting 
other individuals to carry out the bombings.

According to Granma daily, prosecutors allege 
Posada Carriles lied about asking a Salvadoran 
citizen named Raul Cruz Leon to take into Cuba 
explosives used in the 1997 bombings of Havana 
hotels, which killed an Italian tourist.

He previously admitted involvement in the hotel 
bombings in published interviews.

Posada Carriles, a Cuban native and naturalized 
Venezuelan citizen, later denied knowing Cruz or 
having anything to do with those bombings during 
a hearing in El Paso in 2005, after he was 
arrested on immigration charges in Miami.

In January 2007 he was accused of lying to 
investigators about having used an alias and 
about how he entered the United States in 2005. 
He has been freed on bond since 2007 after US 
District Judge Kathleen Cardone threw the fraud case against him.

But the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New 
Orleans reversed Cardone's ruling last year.

The new indictment seems to be linked to an 
extradition request filed by Venezuela, whose 
government is likely to raise the issue at the 
upcoming 5th Americas Summit in Trinidad and Tobago, the Cuban newspaper said.

Posada Carriles was tried and sentenced in 
Caracas for his involvement in the 1976 bombing 
of a Cubana jetliner with 73 passengers.

nm/emw/mac/mf

PL-9
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Cuban militant Posada indicted on new charges

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL – 14 hours ago

EL PASO, Texas (AP)  An anti-Castro Cuban 
militant was accused Wednesday in a federal 
indictment of lying about his involvement in a 
series of 1997 bombings that targeted tourist spots in Cuba.

Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative and 
U.S. Army soldier, was indicted on 11 counts, 
including perjury and obstruction of a federal 
proceeding. The 81-year-old militant had 
previously been indicted on six counts, including 
immigration fraud and lying to federal 
authorities in a bid to become a naturalized U.S. citizen.

The indictment is the first time Posada has been 
accused in the United States of being involved in 
the bombings. Cuban authorities have long accused 
him of orchestrating the bombings as well as a 
deadly 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner.

Felipe Millan, Posada's El Paso lawyer, said Posada denies the charges.

"He's innocent ... and looks forward to having 
his day in court," Millan told The Associated Press.

Efforts to reach the Cuban Interest Section, 
which Havana has in Washington, D.C., in place of 
an embassy, were unsuccessful Wednesday evening.

The Cuban government did not immediately comment 
on the indictment, which came after offices 
closed for the day. The evening news broadcast on 
state television did not mention it.

Posada was originally indicted in January 2007. 
At the time, prosecutors alleged that he lied to 
investigators about having used an alias and 
about how he entered the United States in the 
spring of 2005. Posada claims he sneaked across 
the border from Mexico near Brownsville, Texas, 
but prosecutors say he arrived in Miami on a boat from Mexico.

The new indictment charges that Posada, who is 
wanted in Venezuela and Cuba in the airline 
bombing, lied about being involving in 
"soliciting other individuals to carry out ... bombings in Cuba."

Prosecutors allege he also lied about asking a 
man named Raul Cruz Leon to take into Cuba 
explosives used in the 1997 bombings of Havana 
hotels that they say were aimed at hurting Cuban 
tourism. Cruz was sentenced to death for the 
bombings, which killed an Italian tourist.

Posada previously admitted involvement in the 
hotel bombings in published interviews, saying 
that the bombs were intended only to "break 
windows and cause minor damage" and that the 
death of tourist Fabio di Celmo was "bad luck." 
He later recanted his involvement.

Posada, a Cuban native and naturalized Venezuelan 
citizen, denied knowing Cruz or having anything 
to do with those bombings during a hearing in El Paso in 2005.

He was arrested on immigration charges in Miami 
in 2005. He was held at an immigration jail in El 
Paso until being indicted in the fraud case.

An immigration judge in El Paso ordered that 
Posada should be deported in 2005, but said the 
ailing militant could not be sent to Cuba or 
Venezuela because of fears he could be tortured.

Posada has been freed on bond, living with his 
family in Florida, since 2007. No trial date has been set.

The fraud case against Posada was initially 
thrown out by U.S. District Judge Kathleen 
Cardone in El Paso, who said the government 
manipulated Posada's naturalization interview. 
Cardone ruled that the government's 
Spanish-to-English translation of the April 2006 
interview was "so inaccurate as to render it 
unreliable as evidence of defendant's actual statement."

The judge also agreed with Posada's lawyers that 
the naturalization interview had been a pretext for a criminal investigation.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New 
Orleans reversed Cardone's ruling last year and 
earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court turned 
down Posada's request to have the case dismissed based on government trickery.

Posada initially sought asylum in the U.S. before 
withdrawing that application and asking to become a naturalized citizen.

Associated Press writers Will Lester in 
Washington and Anita Snow in Havana contributed to this report.

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415 863-9977

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