[NYTr] A Terrorist Walks: Mainstream Posada Coverage Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:24:22 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - April 20, 2007 Summary: All major newspapers report today on the release from a U.S. jail of self-proclaimed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, an act which sparked protests in Cuba, Venezuela and the U.S. to draw attention to the hypocrisy of U.S. counterterrorism policy. A known flight risk who escaped prison in Venezuela in 1985, Posada Carriles is due to face trial for lying to U.S. immigration officials on May 11th, not the more relevant charges of terrorist activities. $350,000 in bail posted by his lawyers bought his freedom to return home to Miami. He is wanted for, among other crimes, killing 73 people in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner. An related editorial appearing in the Los Angeles Times today asserts that, "The U.S. government has done many odd things in 46 years of a largely failed Cuba policy, but letting a notorious terrorist walk stands among the most perverse yet." Not only was the U.S. slow to detain Posada Carriles and charge him for a widely know set of crimes, it has blocked other nations from bringing him to justice. Venezuela's requests for extradition have long gone ignored. Venezuelan foreign minister Nicolas Maduro is quoted in an Associated Press article as stating that "George Bush's government is an accomplice of this terrorist. It has protected him and today it has guaranteed his freedom, striking a blow against and mocking international law." -VIO **************** 1)"U.S. Releases Cuban Bombing Suspect" New York Times 2)"Chavez demands U.S. extradite Cuban militant wanted in 1976 airliner bombing" Associated Press 3)"Cubans, Venezuelans angered by Posada's release" Miami Herald 4)"A terrorist walks" Los Angeles Times 5)"U.S. criticized as Cuban exile is freed" Los Angeles Times 6)"Posada Release Sparks Protests in Cuba" Associated Press 7)"Militant's Release Angers Cuba" Associated Press **************** New York Times - April 20, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/world/americas/20posada.html U.S. Releases Cuban Bombing Suspect By Anthony DePalma A 79-year-old anti-Castro Cuban exile and former C.I.A. operative linked to the bombing of a Cuban airliner was released on bail yesterday and immediately returned to Miami to await trial on immigration fraud charges. A billboard in Havana bears a likeness of Luis Posada Carriles and reads, "Cuba declares him guilty" in the bombing of a Cuban jetliner in 1976. The man, Luis Posada Carriles, was released from the Otero County Prison in Chaparral, N.M., after posting a $350,000 bond on the immigration charges. His release infuriated the authorities in Cuba and Venezuela, who have been trying to extradite him to stand trial over the 1976 airliner bombing, which killed 73 people, including several teenage members of Cuba's national fencing team. The United States Justice Department had tried unsuccessfully to prevent his release, arguing that his escape from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 increased the risk that he might flee before the scheduled start of his trial on immigration charges on May 11. The court rejected the Justice Department's argument, but it increased security measures by ordering Mr. Posada to be fitted with an ankle bracelet to track his whereabouts. He was ordered to remain under house detention with his wife in Miami until the immigration trial begins. Mr. Posada, a gray-haired former intelligence operative and United States Army officer, has been detained since May 2005, when he entered the United States illegally. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said Thursday in Caracas, "We demand that they extradite that terrorist and murderer to Venezuela, instead of protecting him." Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, the chief of the Cuban Interests Section, Cuba's diplomatic representation in Washington, told Agence France-Presse yesterday, "Cuba forcefully condemns this decision and holds the government of the United States totally responsible for the fact that Posada Carriles is free in Miami." Prensa Latina, the Cuban news agency, reported last night that 50,000 people had gathered at a demonstration in Bayamo, a city in southeastern Cuba, to protest the release of Mr. Posada and to demand that he be tried for the jetliner bombing. The Cuban government has also accused Mr. Posada, an avowed opponent of the island's Communist rule, of plotting to assassinate the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, in Panama in 2000, and of planning a series of explosions in tourist hotels in Havana in 1997. Mr. Posada was jailed in Panama in connection with the attempt on Mr. Castro's life but was later pardoned by Panamanian officials. He admitted, then later denied, that he had directed the wave of hotel bombings in 1997. He has also repeatedly denied responsibility for the bombing of the plane, known as Cubana Airlines Flight 455. The jet blew apart and crashed off the coast of Barbados on Oct. 6, 1976. Investigators in Venezuela, where Mr. Posada had been chief of operations in the secret intelligence police, traced at least one of the bombs to the plane's luggage compartment. The investigators found that two Venezuelans had checked bags through to Havana but got off the plane at a scheduled stop in Barbados. The men had worked for Mr. Posada, who was arrested in Venezuela and charged with the bombing. He escaped from prison in 1985 dressed as a priest after associates bribed a guard. Cuban officials have accused the United States of hypocrisy in battling terrorists by not prosecuting Mr. Posada or deporting him to stand trial on terrorism charges in another country. They routinely refer to Mr. Posada as "the bin Laden of the Americas." Mr. Posada's shadowy past as a Central Intelligence Agency operative put the United States in a politically delicate position. In his early years, he had received military training in the United States and worked for the C.I.A. to bring down the Castro government. He participated in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Later he was involved in supplying arms to rebels in Nicaragua. The United States has acknowledged his long record of violent acts. In court papers filed in his immigration fraud case, the Justice Department described him as "an unrepentant criminal and admitted mastermind of terrorist plots." Mr. Posada was detained in 2005 after he entered the United States on false pretenses. According to an indictment unsealed this year, he lied when he told border officials he had paid a smuggler to drive him from Mexico to Texas. He actually entered the country on a small boat. He also lied about using an alias. An immigration judge has blocked Mr. Posada's extradition to Cuba or Venezuela, ruling that he could be subject to torture in those countries. Efforts to deport him to another country have failed because so far no other country has been willing to take him. His arrival in Miami yesterday afternoon set off mixed reactions among the area's many Cuban exiles, who see him as both a patriot and an embarrassment. "We have been fighting this war on terror, and here we are releasing a man who has a history of terrorist acts and is a fugitive of justice in other countries," said Elena Freyre, executive director of the Cuban-American Defense League, a moderate exile group in Miami. "It's absolutely appalling." But Miguel Saavedra, president of Vigilia Mambisa, a small, hard-line anti-Castro exile group, said he felt vindicated by Mr. Posada's release on bail. "The only ones accusing him are the governments of Cuba and Venezuela," Mr. Saavedra said. "They can only accuse him because they haven't been able to prove anything. If he is sent to Cuba or Venezuela, it would be the equivalent of executing him." *** AP via International Herald Tribune - April 19, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/20/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-US-Cuban-Militant.php Chavez demands U.S. extradite Cuban militant wanted in 1976 airliner bombing The Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela accused the U.S. government of being an "accomplice" to a terrorist after Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles was freed on bail, and vowed to mount a diplomatic and legal offensive for him to be tried in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that the 79-year-old's release from a New Mexico jail, despite a long-standing Venezuelan extradition request, leaves "naked before public opinion" the hypocrisy of U.S. President George W. Bush's government. "The government of the United States could have acted in this case and didn't want to," Maduro said. "George Bush's government is an accomplice of this terrorist. It has protected him and today it has guaranteed his freedom, striking a blow against and mocking international law." President Hugo Chavez demanded in a speech earlier that the U.S. extradite the ex-CIA agent. "All of Venezuela lifts its indignant voice over the protection that the imperialist government of the United States continues to give to the father of all terrorists of all time in the American continent," Chavez told a crowd of supporters. Posada, who was born in Cuba and naturalized in Venezuela, is wanted for trial in Caracas on charges he masterminded the 1976 airliner bombing off Barbados that killed 73 people. Posada has denied involvement. Venezuela says Posada, a longtime opponent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, plotted the bombing while living in Caracas. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 and was detained in Florida in May 2005 for entering the United States illegally. Maduro said delegations of lawmakers from Venezuela and other countries "are going to leave immediately for some of the world's parliaments -- the European parliament, the U.S. Congress" and others. He said they would protest Posada's release and lobby for action "so that this disgrace doesn't pass under the table." Without offering specifics he said Venezuela also is preparing a series of legal actions. "We call on the institutions of the United States ... on public opinion, on the people of the United States ... on the governments of the world ... to search for justice," Maduro said. He accused the Bush administration of flouting an extradition treaty and called it a "terrorist government." Declassified U.S. government documents detail Posada's alleged links to the 1976 bombing, including one State Department intelligence brief revealing an informant's account that just weeks before the bombing Posada said: "We are going to hit a Cuban airliner." Maduro said Posada was being shielded because he "knows all the secrets of this mafia that governs the United States" -- including Cold War atrocities in places from Central America to Argentina. After his prison escape in 1985, Posada soon became involved with U.S. covert operatives in Central America, where he delivered weapons to Nicaraguan Contra rebels. On Thursday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he will also ask for Posada to be tried in Nicaragua, saying his arms deliveries were "acts of terrorism against the Nicaraguan people." Ortega, who led a Soviet-backed government in the 1980s but now says he has moderated his views, added that the decision to release Posada was also "an act of terrorism." Chavez, a close ally of Castro, has compared Posada to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. He said the fact that Posada was granted bail shows the U.S. government's hypocrisy. "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!" *** The Miami Herald - April 20, 2007 http://www.miamiherald.com/583/story/80840.html Cubans, Venezuelans angered by Posada's release By Frances Robles Cuban and Venezuelan reaction to Luis Posada Carriles' release Thursday was fast -- and quite furious. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez railed against the Bush administration at a Caracas rally, while in Cuba's eastern city of Bayamo, 50,000 people gathered at Manuel de Cespedes Square to demonstrate against the release, Radio Habana reported. In Havana, thousands of Communist Youth Union members gathered outside the U.S. Interests Section to denounce Posada's release as a sinister plot to protect a cherished member of the CIA. Indignant students took the podium Thursday night and accused Washington of protecting a "cowardly criminal." Both nations want Posada to stand trial for the 1976 bombing of the Cubana de Aviacion flight to Cuba that killed 73 people when a bomb aboard exploded after it took off from Barbados. "They freed my father's killer. Imagine how that feels," Camilo Rojo, whose father Jes=FAs was an airline employee, said in a telephone interview with The Miami Herald from Havana. "We ask: 'How is it possible for the United States to be in a global war against terrorism and to free a terrorist? Do the American people know this?' "This is a lack of respect to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, a lack of respect to the young men dying in Iraq in a supposed war over terror. What would the U.S. government say to these men's families?" Other victims' relatives vowed to continue their public campaign against Posada. "I am not surprised that he was released -- I feel indignant and I feel pain," Odalys Perez Rodriguez, whose father, Wilfredo Perez, was the flight's pilot, said by phone from Cuba. "We are not going to let this pass. We are going to fight this like we've been fighting it for 30 years. If I get old, then my children and grandchildren will do it." She said it was particularly difficult to watch television footage of Posada walking out of jail in Texas. "He was walking just fine, not like the little old man they described him to be," she said. "My father didn't get to reach that age." Perez was 10 when her father died at the age of 36, leaving five children. In Venezuela, Chavez fired up the masses at a televised rally. "All Venezuela raises its voice in indignation over the protection that the imperialist government of the United States continues to give the father of all the terrorists of all times in the American continent," Chavez said. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro called Posada's release a "slap in the face to Latin America and the Caribbean." Venezuela has sought Posada's extradition for trial because he lived there at the time of the bombing. But a U.S. judge ruled Posada could not be deported to Venezuela -- he has Venezuelan citizenship -- because of fears the elderly militant could be tortured. Cuba and Venezuela denounced the handling of the case and said the U.S. attorney's office -- taking its orders from the White House -- deliberately put up a lame prosecution so that Posada could be released from jail on bond while awaiting trial on U.S. immigration fraud charges. Cuba's only official reaction came from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., whose chief, Dagoberto Rodriguez, told the AFP news agency that "Cuba energetically condemns this decision and holds the government of the United States responsible." Late Thursday, Cuban television news announced that Nicaragua would also seek his extradition for alleged crimes committed there. Posada worked with the CIA-backed contra guerrillas who fought the 1980s Sandinista government of recently reelected President Daniel Ortega. *** Los Angeles Times - April 20, 2007 http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-posada20apr20,1,3085062.story?ctrack=1&cset=true Editorial A terrorist walks Luis Posada Carriles has boasted of bombing Havana hotels, yet American justice lets him go free. WITH A MISGUIDED decision upholding bail for Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has done more than free a frail old man facing unremarkable immigration charges. It has exposed Washington to legitimate charges of hypocrisy in the war on terror. By allowing Posada to go free before his May 11 trial, the court has released a known flight risk who previously escaped from a Venezuelan prison, a man who has boasted of helping set off deadly bombs in Havana hotels 10 years ago and the alleged mastermind of a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airplane that killed 73 people. Posada's employees confessed to the attack, and declassified FBI and CIA documents have shown that he attended planning sessions. In other words, Posada is the Zacarias Moussaoui of Havana and Caracas. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence without parole in a federal prison in Colorado for conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks; Posada is free to live in Miami. Posada, a 79-year-old Bay of Pigs veteran who served time in Panama for plotting to kill Fidel Castro, has never been charged with crimes of terrorism in U.S. courts. Instead, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement nabbed him for lying to immigration authorities after he sneaked in the country in March 2005 and held a news conference announcing his triumphant return. Both Customs and the Justice Department lobbied to keep Posada behind bars, but U.S. law enforcement has never shown a strong interest in trying him for more serious crimes. In turn, Posada's lawyer has preemptively warned that if charged, his client would likely reveal extensive collaboration with the CIA. The United States keeps 385 suspected terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, many in isolation and all without U.S. norms of due process. Yet Posada, a confessed terrorist, is sent home with an ankle bracelet. The United States has not been able to persuade any of seven allied nations to accept Posada. A federal judge has ruled that he can't be extradited to Cuba or Venezuela because he might be tortured. The best solution would have been for the court to refuse bail until trial while the State Department keeps searching for a third-party country that would agree to try him on terrorism charges. Instead, Castro receives a propaganda victory gift, the White House has its moral authority undermined and the victims of Carriles' alleged crimes see justice delayed once more. The U.S. government has done many odd things in 46 years of a largely failed Cuba policy, but letting a notorious terrorist walk stands among the most perverse yet. *** Los Angeles Times - April 20, 2007 U.S. criticized as Cuban exile is freed Luis Posada Carriles is wanted by Venezuela in connection with a 1976 jetliner bombing. By Carol J. Williams MIAMI -- An exiled Cuban militant wanted by Venezuela in connection with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner was released from jail Thursday and allowed to return to his home here to await trial on charges of violating immigration law. The Bush administration's inability to keep former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles locked up sparked broad condemnation throughout Latin America and among critics of U.S.-Cuba policy. It also provoked accusations that the White House maintains a double standard on terrorism, punishing those who strike at the United States while giving shelter to a man who has admitted to deadly violence against his communist-ruled homeland. An international fugitive for the last 22 years, Posada was arrested here in May 2005, two months after slipping into the United States, and sent to an immigration lockup in El Paso. A federal magistrate ordered him deported, but none of the countries contacted by the State Department would accept him. Although slowed by age, incarceration and injuries sustained in bombings and shootouts, the 79-year-old Posada is seen in Latin America as a ruthless assassin so bent on destroying Fidel Castro's Cuba that he is willing to take innocent lives. Many of the 73 people killed aboard the Cubana de Aviacion plane were teenagers returning from an athletics competition in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1997, an Italian tourist bled to death in a Havana hotel bombing for which Posada took credit during an interview with a journalist. Posada, a Bay of Pigs veteran and a suspect in numerous plots to kill Castro, played a role in the Iran-Contra affair during his CIA service for the Reagan administration in the 1980s. "Posada's release shows the Bush administration's position against terrorism for the cynical sham it is. It takes us back to one man's terrorist being another's freedom fighter," said Wayne Smith, a retired U.S. diplomat and Cuban affairs analyst. Under the Patriot Act, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales has had the option of declaring Posada a terrorist and detaining him indefinitely. In a letter to the Texas court hearing Posada's request for release last fall, the Justice Department urged the court to keep him in jail because he was "an admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks," a flight risk and a danger to the community. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also is empowered to keep Posada imprisoned by declaring his release a threat to stable international relations. The Cuban and Venezuelan governments immediately denounced Posada's release. "Cuba emphatically condemns this decision and holds the U.S. government entirely responsible for Posada Carriles being free in Miami," said Dagoberto Rodriguez, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, which has given the case broad coverage, called Posada "the Bin Laden of the Americas" and blamed his release on inaction by Washington. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Castro, condemned the release as evidence that the Bush administration condones violence against political adversaries. "We demand they extradite that terrorist and assassin to Venezuela instead of continuing to protect him," Chavez said at a political rally in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. Posada operated out of Venezuela during much of his CIA service and is a naturalized citizen of that country. A Venezuelan court tried him in the early 1980s in connection with the plane bombing, acquitting him on a technicality. He bribed his way out of a Caracas jail in 1985 while awaiting retrial, reportedly with money provided by a CIA colleague. A federal grand jury in Texas indicted Posada in January on charges of violating immigration laws, citing inaccurate information in his application for naturalization. He was transferred to a New Mexico jail pending a May 11 trial, but U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso ruled two weeks ago that the immigration charges were insufficient to deny Posada bail. With funds donated by fellow anti-Castro exiles in Miami, Posada posted $250,000 bail Wednesday and his wife, son and daughter put up a $100,000 bond to secure his release. He was escorted here by federal marshals and was to be fitted with an electronic surveillance device. He has been ordered to remain in his Miami home except for visits to physicians or lawyers. The government's failure to act to keep the militant jailed caused speculation that President Bush fears Posada might claim he was following U.S. government orders in carrying out violent acts during his decades of CIA service. "The allegation will be that the administration didn't want to identify him as the terrorist he is for fear of him airing his dirty laundry, responding that 'I was your terrorist,' " said Peter Kornbluh, head of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, where he researches past covert CIA operations. Posada's Miami attorney, Eduardo Soto, hinted in an interview last year that his client was privy to dark chapters in U.S. intelligence history but had kept silent out of loyalty to his adopted country. In Havana, Camilo Rojo, the son of a Cubana de Aviacion official who died aboard the bombed plane, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that Posada's release showed "a lack of respect for all the victims of terrorism, not only in Cuba but throughout the world." *** The Associated Press - April 20, 2007 Posada Release Sparks Protests in Cuba By Will Weissert HAVANA -- Hundreds of Cubans chanted "Justice! Justice!" outside the American mission in Havana as protests erupted across the island after an anti-Castro exile wanted in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner was released from federal prison in New Mexico. Luis Posada Carriles' release on bail also angered Venezuela, which accused the Bush administration of hypocrisy in its policy on terrorism and vowed a diplomatic offensive to put him on trial for the bombing that killed 73 people. "George Bush's government is an accomplice of this terrorist," Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said. "It has protected him and today it has guaranteed his freedom, striking a blow against and mocking international law." Earlier Thursday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez demanded that the U.S. extradite the Cuban-born Posada, an ex-CIA agent who is a longtime opponent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Posada, 79, is accused of plotting the Cubana Airlines bombing while living in Caracas. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 and was detained in Florida in May 2005 for entering the United States illegally. Posada posted bail totaling $350,000 Thursday to get out of a federal prison in New Mexico. He flew to Miami, where he was placed under house arrest at his wife's home pending his May 11 trial on immigration fraud charges. In Washington, Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, chief of the Cuban Interests Section, said his country "energetically condemns this decision and holds the United States government responsible." Yellow school buses brought about 600 youngsters to a plaza outside the U.S. mission in Havana, where they waved plastic Cuban flags and demanded justice. "It's an insult for all Cubans and a tragedy for the families of his victims," said Ereslandi Rodriguez, a 22-year-old university student. He held a sign showing a cartoon of Posada's head, with bloodstained fangs, on a canine body. "The Dog is Loose," it read. Communist youth leader Silviano Merced recalled that President Bush has said anyone who harbors or supports terrorists is as guilty as the terrorists themselves. "For that reason, Mr. Bush," Merced cried, "You are as much of a terrorist as Posada Carriles and his accomplices." The U.S. and Cuba do not have diplomatic relations, and maintain interest sections in each other's territory rather than embassies. Across the capital, Cubans were visibly angry. "This is one of the most barbarous things the United States has done," said Havana resident Rolando Hernandez. "It has betrayed its people and has betrayed the people of other countries." Rallies were hastily organized across Cuba, including two large demonstrations in the eastern cities of Bayamo and Granma. "They let the executioner out!" was the lead headline on the island's nightly newscast. Castro had predicted Posada would be freed from jail, issuing a statement last week that accused the U.S. government of deciding "the liberation of the monster beforehand." In a speech Thursday, his ally Chavez demanded the U.S. hand over Posada to stand trial in Venezuela for the bombing. "All of Venezuela lifts its indignant voice over the protection that the imperialist government of the United States continues to give to the father of all terrorists of all time in the American continent _ the murderer Luis Posada Carriles," Chavez said. *** AP via The New York Times - April 20, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Cuba-Militant-Released.html Militant's Release Angers Cuba The Associated Press HAVANA (AP) -- Cubans were outraged Thursday at the release of anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles from U.S. custody pending a May immigration trial. Posada, an aging ex-CIA operative considered a terrorist by many in Cuba, faces a May 11 trial on immigration fraud charges in the United States. But Cuba and Venezuela accuse him of much more serious crimes, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, something Posada denies. Rallies were hastily organized across Cuba to protest his release. "It's an insult for all Cubans and a tragedy for the families of his victims," said Ereslandi Rodriguez, a 22-year-old computer science student clutching a sign that read "The Dog is Loose" with a cartoon of Posada's head, with bloodstained fangs, on the body of a dog. "The government of (President Bush) should be ashamed of itself," said Rodriguez, squinting as the sun set over Havana's oceanfront Malecon Boulevard. Some held black-and-white photographs of those killed in the airliner bombing. Yellow school buses brought about 600 communist youngsters to a plaza outside the Havana headquarters of the U.S. mission. They waved plastic Cuban flags and chanted "Justice! Justice!" A university communist youth leader, Silviano Merced, quoted Bush saying anyone who harbors or supports terrorists is as guilty as the terrorists themselves. "For that reason, Mr. Bush," Merced told the Havana rally, "you are as much of a terrorist as Posada Carriles and his accomplices." Cuba's communist government -- including Fidel Castro himself -- had predicted the 79-year-old would eventually be released from jail, and it has repeatedly accused the United States of a double standard on terrorism. "This is one of the most barbarous things the United States has done," said Rolando Hernandez, a Havana worker in his 40s. "It has betrayed its people and has betrayed the people of other countries." Posada was freed from a New Mexico jail after he posted $250,000 bond and his family posted another $100,000 bond. He was headed Thursday afternoon to Miami, where he was to stay at his wife's house. He must wear an electronic monitoring device under terms of his release. Posada, who was born in Cuba and naturalized in Venezuela, is accused of plotting the Cubana Airlines bombing while living in Caracas. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 and was detained in Florida in May 2005 for entering the United States illegally. "Cuba energetically condemns this decision and holds the United States government responsible," said Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. The U.S. and Cuba do not have diplomatic relations, and maintain interest sections in each other's territory, rather than embassies. Castro's ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, demanded that the U.S. extradite Posada to stand trial in Venezuela for the bombing. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro accused Washington of being vowed a diplomatic and legal offensive for Posada to be tried. "George Bush's government is an accomplice of this terrorist," Maduro said. "It has protected him and today it has guaranteed his freedom, striking a blow against and mocking international law."Across the capital, Cubans were visibly angry. "This is one of the most barbarous things the United States has done," said =Havana resident Rolando Hernandez. "It has betrayed its people and has =betrayed the people of other countries." Rallies were hastily organized across Cuba, including two large =demonstrations in the eastern cities of Bayamo and Granma. "They let the executioner out!" was the lead headline on the island's nightly newscast. Castro had predicted Posada would be freed from jail, issuing a statement last week that accused the U.S. government of deciding "the liberation of the monster beforehand." In a speech Thursday, his ally Chavez demanded the U.S. hand over Posada to stand trial in Venezuela for the bombing. "All of Venezuela lifts its indignant voice over the protection that the imperialist government of the United States continues to give to the father of all terrorists of all time in the American continent _ the murderer Luis Posada Carriles," Chavez said. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================