Cuban Militant Wants U.S. To Release Him

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The New York Sun

EL PASO, Texas — A Cuban militant accused of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner wants a federal judge to let him out of jail while the American government searches for a country where it can deport him.

Luis Posada Carriles,78,was ordered out of the country last year, but an immigration judge said the government could not send him to Cuba, where he was born, or Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen, citing the possibility that he could be tortured. So far, no other country has been found.

Mr. Posada is a former CIA operative and a fervent foe of Cuba’s president, Fidel Castro, and he is accused by Cuba and Venezuela of plotting the jetliner bombing while living in Venezuela. He has denied involvement in the bombing, which killed 73 people.

He was jailed last year on immigration charges after being accused of sneaking into Texas from Mexico in March 2005.

An El Paso immigration attorney, Felipe Millan, said he and Mr. Posada’s Miami lawyers would ask a federal judge on yesterday to let Mr. Posada live with his family in Miami while he waits to be deported. Mr. Millan said the government has had plenty of time to find a country to take Mr. Posada and that he doubts his client would leave the country.

“There is no foreseeable opportunity that he will be removed,” he said. “He just wants to go home and die in peace.”

Mr. Posada’s health is declining, and he needs heart surgery to implant a pacemaker, Mr. Millan said. The El Paso detention center, where Mr. Posada has been held since last year, lacks the necessary health services, he said.

“The people who run the detention center … treat Mr. Posada very well,” Mr. Millan said.”They’ve done their part, more than their part.But they can only go so far. It’s a detention center, not a hospital.”


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