US: A US judge has ruled that anti-Castro Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles may not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela in a case that has raised questions about the Bush administration's "war on terrorism".
Immigration Judge William Abbott found that Mr Posada, a former CIA operative wanted by Venezuela for trial in a 1976 Cuban airliner bombing that killed 73 people, faced the threat of torture in those countries. He therefore ruled Mr Posada could not be returned under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, a government spokeswoman said yesterday.
"The judge's decision did not rule out the removal of Mr Posada to another country," said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa. The Venezuelan government, which contends Mr Posada is a terrorist and has requested his extradition, said it would press on with its demand. President Hugo Chavez's government has angrily denied that it tortured defendants.
"We reiterate our demand, not just in the name of the government of the Venezuelan Bolivarian Republic, but more than anything, in the name of the victims," Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Pilar Hernandez said in an interview with state television.
Mr Posada (77) has been held by the United States since May for illegally crossing the border into Texas from Mexico. He has denied involvement in the 1976 bombing, but has admitted working against Fidel Castro and to a role in the 1961 US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow the Cuban leader. - (Reuters)
