International terrorist Posada Carriles released in the U.S.

According to one of Posada’s lawyers, Felipe Milán, after the bond of $250,000 was posted, his client left the New Mexico prison where he had been detained and traveled to Miami.

On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans found in favor of release on bail for the criminal, whom Washington is refusing to try for his bloody acts against Cuba.

The court ruling ignored a Justice Department petition to maintain the detention of Posada Carriles, who has only been charged for the violation of immigration laws and not for his terrorist activities against the island.

It was in the hands of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department to prevent the release of the terrorist, one of the perpetrators of the 1976 sabotage in full flight of a Cubana passenger plane with 73 people on board.

In order to prevent him from being released, the government was forced to argue that to do so would constitute a danger to the community.

Two weeks ago, Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled in favor of the release of this Cuban-born criminal, upon his deposit of a corporate bond of $250,000.

His release is likewise backed up by a so-called family financial commitment, and adorned with an "electronic bracelet" that the terrorist has to wear as a means of localizing him.

Under the order, Posada Carriles is to remain in Miami and non-authorized visits are not permitted.

The judge’s ruling was contradictory, given that in her document she acknowledges that the terrorist is "associated with some of the most infamous events of twentieth-century Central America."

Those events include "Bay of Pigs invasion, the Iran-Contra affair, the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455, the tourist bombings of 1997 and even – according to some conspiracy theorists – the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, she noted.

However, Cardone decided that the charges faced by the detainee are unrelated to any of those events.

Posada Carriles was arrested in May 2005 after appearing in public in Miami, thus making evident his illegal entry into U.S. territory.

Last January, a federal district judge in Texas arraigned him on seven charges, including fraud in the naturalization process and another six for giving false information to immigration officials, but none for terrorist crimes.

The trial is set for May 11.

In addition to blowing up the Cuban aircraft, Posada’s criminal record includes the planning of a series bombings of Havana tourist facilities in 1997, one of which caused the death of Italian Fabio di Celmo.

He was also one of a group of four terrorists who organized a thwarted attempt on the life of Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama in 2000.

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/abril/juev19/17libpc-i.html