Costa Rica will not accept terror suspect from the U.S.
Costa Rica is one of six countries that have refused to accept a 78-year-old Cuban militant who is being kicked out of the United States.
The militant is Luis Posada Carriles. Venezuela’s government has accused Posada Carriles in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.
There has been no statement from Costa Rica’s foreign ministry, but Donald George, a U.S. immigration official said in a judicial hearing that Costa Rica had rejected the man. Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador also have refused to accept the man, said the lawyer for Posada Carriles.
Posada Carriles has asked to be released from custody to live with relatives in Florida while U.S. officials process his deportation order. But U.S. officials say he is a threat and should remain in jail.
Costa Rica’s Constitution says that the nation’s territory shall be a shelter for all those persecuted for political reasons. As such the country has a reputation for accepting refugees. However, Posada Carriles is a special case. He is accused as a terrorist and a political hot potato.
U.S. Immigration authorities seized Posada Carriles in May, 2005, after the Cuban exile gave an impromptu news conference in Miami, ending weeks of speculation about his whereabouts.
Posada Carriles and three other Cubans had won controversial pardons in Panamá where they were being held in a scheme to blow up Fidel Castro when he spoke as a local university.
Posada Carriles has denied involvement in the plane bombing and in the bombings of several hotels in Havana in 1997 that resulted in the death of an Italian tourist.
Posada Carriles escaped from a minimum security prison in Venezuela in 1985 where he had been held on charges of involvement in the airliner bombing. Eduardo Soto, Posada’s lawyer said his client would face certain death if sent to Caracas.
U.S. officials have refused to send him to Venezuela or to Cuba, saying he could be tortured or killed. The case is intertwined with international politics and with the Florida Cuban community.