Prosecutors appeal Posada Carriles case

U.S. federal prosecutors have filed an appeal against the release of Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles. Posada Carriles was let go by a Texas judge in May after the U.S. government was deemed to have used “deceit and trickery” in using a citizenship interview to get evidence against him. Yet prosecutors alleged that Posada Carriles lied on an application and during an interview to become a naturalized citizen, and that does not justify “the extreme sanction of dismissal.”

Who is Luis Posada Carriles and why is he such a sought after individual? An article by the AFP explains:

A Cuba-born Venezuelan national, Posada Carriles was jailed in Venezuela in 1976 for allegedly masterminding the downing of a Cuban jet off Barbados.

He escaped in 1985, was sentenced to eight years in jail in Panama for a 2000 bomb plot to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro, and was pardoned four years later.

US authorities are reportedly investigating whether Posada Carriles was involved in a 1997 Havana hotel bombing that killed an Italian tourist.

Sources- The Latin Americanist, ABC News, AFP, Associated Press

Image- ABC News (Anti-Castro Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, center, arrives at his wife's house in Miami, April 19, 2007, after being released from federal custody.”)