Anti-Castro Militant's Arrest Puts U.S. in a Bind

Administration Mindful Of Fla. Cuban Exile Politics

MIAMI, May 17 -- Luis Posada Carriles escaped a Venezuelan prison in his late fifties and sneaked into the United States without papers in his late seventies. He has survived a bullet to the jaw and beaten charges in Venezuela that he masterminded the terrorist bombing of a Cuban airliner.

But Posada's penchant for slipping out of tough jams seemed to run its course Tuesday in Miami, where the aging militant and vehement opponent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro was arrested by U.S. immigration officers, setting off an international diplomatic controversy. The arrest creates a dilemma for the Bush administration, which has taken a strong stand against terrorism in all forms but has also been reluctant to cross the politically potent Cuban exile community in South Florida, many of whom support Posada.

Venezuelan officials demanded that Posada be extradited for a new trial on charges related to a 1976 bombing of a civilian airliner that killed 73 Cubans and Venezuelans over the Bahamas. And in Cuba, where 1 million people marched through Havana demanding Posada's arrest hours before he was taken into custody, top allies of Castro pressured the Bush administration.

"Now Mr. Bush has to prove he is sincere about terrorism," Parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon told the Associated Press. "What the United States has to do now is clear: If there is a request for his extradition it has to attend to it according to its own laws."

Posada, now 77, was arrested after an unusual resurfacing here in this hotbed of anti-Castro sentiment. He had been in hiding since slipping into the United States through Mexico in March and making his way by bus to the sanctuary and hiding places offered by longtime friends in Miami.

But in recent days, he had a coming out. He told the Miami Herald in an article published Tuesday that he was no longer trying as hard to hide after nearly two months in the country and was being recognized while shopping or going to the doctor's office. His associates also invited reporters to be driven to a warehouse, where he chatted at length Tuesday morning, wearing a linen suit and escorted by a small circle of muscular men.

Not long after the warehouse news conference, images of Posada being shuffled into a Black Hawk helicopter by Department of Homeland Security agents flickered across television sets in Miami. His immigration lawyer, Eduardo Soto, said Posada was flown to Homestead Air Force Base, south of Miami, and speculated that he may one day be detained at the prison operated by the U.S. government in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"It is sad that the American government has granted Fidel Castro -- the No. 1 terrorist in the world -- his wishes that Luis Posada be arrested," said Soto's father, the prominent Latino activist, Osvaldo Soto.

Posada had been scheduled to appear Tuesday morning at an asylum hearing but said he was not feeling well and asked for a postponement. Later that afternoon, Eduardo Soto withdrew Posada's asylum application, taking directions through an intermediary from a client he had not yet met.

No charges have been filed against Posada, who has been a controversial figure throughout Castro's reign. Posada was trained by the CIA, served several years in the U.S. Army and took part in countless anti-Castro demonstrations throughout Latin America in the 1960s and rose to a high-ranking post in the Venezuelan security agency. He has been a suspect in several terrorist bombings, the most serious being the 1976 airliner attack.

He was twice acquitted in Venezuela in the airliner bombing. In 1985, still jailed while prosecutors appealed, he escaped a Venezuelan prison and began a two-decade odyssey through Central America.

Eduardo Soto said his client paid someone to help him get into the United States. Posada told reporters that he had a close call in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when he persuaded an immigration agent to let him continue to Miami, saying he was an old man and had forgotten his documents.

But by Tuesday, Posada was talking about giving up his asylum effort and fleeing.

"If my petition for political asylum created any problem to the government of the United States, I am ready to reconsider my petition," Posada told reporters. "My only objective is to fight for the freedom of my country."