Terrorist suspect wanted

last updated 8 January 2015

Caracas

Venezuela has requested that the U.S. extradite a radical Cuban exile, Luis Posada Carriles, who according to his lawyer sneaked into Florida six weeks ago seeking asylum. Posada, 77, was implicated in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner flying from Caracas to Havana. Seventy-three people were killed. He was also convicted, then pardoned, in Panama for plotting to kill Fidel Castro, and has admitted plotting a series of 1997 bombings in Cuban hotels that killed an Italian tourist. Cuba accused the U.S. of “the worst hypocrisy” for letting Posada roam free despite the global war on terrorism. Roger Noriega of the State Department said the U.S. “respects the rule of law” and won’t grant Posada asylum. But U.S. officials say they don’t know where Posada is.