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Cuban
exiles differ on Posada
By Jennifer Gollan. South
Florida Sun-Sentinel. Posted April 8
2007.
Following a legal victory for anti-Castro
militant Luis Posada Carriles, prominent
Cuban exiles on Saturday differed over how
the U.S. government should now deal with
him.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone on
Friday ordered that Posada, who is awaiting
trial on charges of lying to become a U.S.
citizen, be released on bail. But a federal
prosecutor asked that he remain imprisoned
in New Mexico for another week pending a
possible appeal.
Marcelino Miyares, president of the Christian
Democratic Party of Cuba, based in Miami,
said the United States ought to grant Posada
asylum.
Guarione Diaz, president and chief executive
officer of the Cuban American National Council
Inc., a nonprofit organization based in
Miami, was more tempered in his expectations.
He said Posada should be given due process,
whatever the outcome.
Posada, 79, is an ex-CIA operative accused
of plotting the deadly bombing of a Cuban
airliner in 1976, along with attacks in
Havana that killed an Italian tourist in
1997.
Venezuela has demanded Posada's extradition
to face charges in the Cuban plane bombing.
But an immigration judge has ruled that
he cannot be deported to Venezuela or Cuba
for fear he might be tortured. Barring an
appeal, Friday's ruling would allow Posada
to live with his wife in Miami until his
trial commences May 11.
"I think he should be protected by
his former employer, which is the U.S. government,"
Miyares said, referring to Posada's CIA
service.
Diaz said Posada's circumstances pose a
quandary for the U.S. government.
"We have the fact that if we cannot
return him to Venezuela or Cuba, then what
do you do with someone who you don't want
to keep here?" Diaz said.
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