Cuba Bomb Suspect Denied U.S. Bail

Cuba bomb suspect denied US bail

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4716643.stm

7/26/2005

A US immigration judge has denied a request for bail from the militant Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles.

The former CIA operative was arrested in May on charges that he had entered the US illegally two months earlier.

The ruling means Mr Posada Carriles will remain at a detention centre in Texas until his case is heard. He had asked to transfer the case to Florida.

The 77-year-old is wanted by Venezuela over a 1976 plane bombing which killed 73 people. He denies involvement.

Twice acquitted
Mr Posada Carriles, who is seeking political asylum in the US, had asked to be released on bail while he waits for the claim to be decided.

The court in El Paso, Texas, also heard he wanted the case against him to be transferred to Florida so he could be closer to his lawyer and friends.

Judge William Abbott refused bail on the grounds that Mr Posada Carriles had accusations related to terrorism pending against him.

He also asked for legal briefs on Mr Posada Carriles' alleged role in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion - a US-backed, failed attempt to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Venezuela has formally requested the extradition of Mr Posada Carriles, whom it accuses of planning the bombing of the Cubana Airlines plane on a flight from Caracas to Havana.

A naturalised Venezuelan, he was twice acquitted by Venezuelan courts of plotting to bomb the plane. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting a trial on appeal.

Mr Posada Carriles is also wanted by Cuba for a series of bombings of hotels in Havana in 1997.

The US says it will not extradite people to any country which could then hand them over to Cuba.