Venezuela Stages Raid in Posada Case

Maria Teresa Rosas, wife of Joaquin Chaffardet, close friend and former lawyer of Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles, stands in her husband's office in their home in Caracas, Thursday, April 12, 2007, after Venezuelan intelligence agents raided their property. Posada, an ex-CIA operative, is wanted in both Cuba and Venezuela for allegedly masterminding the 1976 Cubana Airlines bombing off Barbados that killed 73 people. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez accuses the United States of shielding Posada from justice, calling him "the father of this continent's terrorists." (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch) (Leslie Mazoch - AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Intelligence agents raided the home of a close friend of anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles, who's jailed in the U.S. but wanted in Venezuela for a 1976 airliner bombing, the friend's wife said Thursday.

The raid came as President Hugo Chavez accused the United States of shielding Posada by holding the Cuba-born militant on minor immigration charges. Chavez called Posada "the father of this continent's terrorists."

Military intelligence agents searched attorney Joaquin Chaffardet's home for five hours Wednesday night, saying they were looking for weapons and documents, his wife Maria Teresa Rosas, told The Associated Press.

She accused them of planting a C-4 explosive along with other potentially compromising documents, saying "that wasn't in my house."

Military officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Chaffardet was out of the country at the time of the raid, Rosas said, declining to say where he was and citing security reasons.

Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan, is wanted in both Cuba and Venezuela for allegedly masterminding the 1976 Cubana Airlines bombing off Barbados that killed 73 people. He is accused of plotting the attack while in Caracas, and escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985.

The 79-year-old militant is being held in New Mexico on charges of lying to immigration authorities. A U.S. judge ordered his release on $250,000 bond pending trialand he was expected to go free Thursday. But a U.S. appeals court blocked his release after prosecutors filed an emergency motion.

The government has called Chaffardet an accomplice of Posada, saying it was grossly improper that his court testimony helped convince a U.S. judge that Posada faced a threat of torture if handed over to Venezuela.

Chaffardet, a Venezuelan, was once a police colleague of Posada, who held a prominent role in Venezuela's secret police in the 1970s.

On Wednesday, Chavez accused Posada of being responsible for the killing and torture of leftist activists during those years.

Posada trained with the CIA for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and served in the U.S. Army in the early 1960s.