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Luis Posada Carriles
A notorious Cuban exile and one-time CIA aoperative sought by Cuba and Venezuela on terrorism charges was indicted Thursday in Texas on seven charges of naturalization violations, the US Department of Justice said.

Luis Posada Carriles, 78, faces up to 40 years in US jail if found guilty on the charges, which include false statements on an application for becoming a naturalized citizen and false statements under oath during a 2006 interview with Department of Homeland Security officials.

A federal grand jury in western Texas indicted Carriles. When he first re-entered the US illegally in 2005, Carrilles requested political asylum.

Venezuela has formally requested the extradition of Posada Carriles so he can be tried for plotting the bombing attack against a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people in 1976. Venezuela alleges Posada Carriles planned the attack from Venezuela.

The indictment in Texas moved Posada Carriles' case into the criminal justice arena, and appeared to provide a way out for immigration officials who in early 2006 said the US intended to move him to a third country.

A US judge ruled in 2005 that he could not be extradited to Venezuela or Cuba because he could face torture there.

Posada Carriles has spent the past decade seeking refuge from a trail of charges across Latin America, stemming from his earliest involvment as an anti-Cuban CIA operative in the 1960s. He was last serving an eight-year sentence in Panama for plotting to kill Castro during an international summit in 2000. After his controversial pardon by the Panamanian government, he went into hiding.

The former CIA operative has confessed to carrying out attacks on tourist facilities in Cuba in 1997 that left at least one person dead. But he denies any involvement in the plane bombing.
Source: Playful.com

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