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Anti-Castro Militant Released From U.S. Custody NewsMax.com Wires MIAMI -- Anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, an aging ex-CIA operative suspected in a decades-old Cuban airliner bombing, was released from U.S. custody Thursday and flew to Miami as he awaits trial on immigration fraud charges. Posada was released from a New Mexico jail after posting bond and went to his wife's house in Miami. He was required to post a $250,000 bond and his wife, daughter and son were required to post a $100,000 bond to secure his release. A frail Posada was accompanied on the flight by U.S. Marshals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. His daughter and attorney helped him walk up to the second-floor apartment. Posada's attorney Arturo Hernandez said his client would be sent to pretrial services Friday where he would receive an electronic monitoring device under the terms of his release. "He talked a lot about Cuba, about his gratitude to the Cuban-American community at large. He was very nostalgic," Hernandez said of Posada's demeanor during the flight. The 79-year-old former CIA operative is awaiting a May 11 trial on allegations that he lied to immigration authorities while trying to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Earlier this week, an appeals court in New Orleans rejected the federal government's bid to keep Posada jailed until his trial. The release order puts him under 24-hour house arrest and an electronic monitoring device. Story Continues Below
Posada is wanted in his native Cuba and in Venezuela, where he is accused of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people. A judge ruled that he couldn't be deported to those countries because he might be tortured, and no other country has agreed to take him. Attorneys for Venezuela have argued that under international law, if the United States decides not to return Posada to Venezuela, it should try him on the bombing charges. Posada has denied the airline bombing. Under the conditions of his release, Posada must try to find a country willing to take him, ICE officials said. Posada has been jailed since March 2005, when he was caught in Miami and sent to El Paso to face immigration charges. In Miami, his return was hailed by some who view him as a freedom fighter. "He's quite old and in bad health. We believe he should be with his family and will not be a risk," said Angel De Fana, who heads a Miami-based group that supports political prisoners in Cuba and wrote a letter in favor of Posada's release. (AP) Anti-Castro Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, center,flanked by his daughter Janet Arguello,... Full Image In Havana, Students protested in front of the U.S Interests Section, waving Cuban flags and holding up pictures of victims of the Cubana Airlines bombing. Government television was to air a special program on Posada's release later Thursday. "Cuba energetically condemns this decision and holds the United States government responsible," said Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. Castro's ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, earlier Thursday demanded that the U.S. extradite Posada to stand trial in Venezuela for the 1976 airliner bombing. "They say they fight against terrorism, (but) there it is! Their mask keeps falling off," Chavez said. "The U.S. empire will end up being a paper tiger, and we will be tigers of steel!" © 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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