Miami Herald
Dec. 5, 1974
By Roberto Fabricio
Herald Staff Writer
Dr. Orlando Bosch, the Cuban exile pediatrician-turned-terrorist, is roaming the Americas after his Venezuelan captors released him and the United States dropped criminal charges against him, the FBI said Wednesday.
A Cuban-exile newsman who interviewed Bosch in Curacao Thursday said the Accion Cubana head is guarded by a well-armed band of Chilean guerillas and apparently has access to both money and political influence.
Bosch, who was arrested in Caracas two weeks ago, had admitted to two bombings against Cuban and Panamanian buildings in Caracas. He was wanted on violation of his U.S. parole in another case.
Miami Cuban newsman Oscar Iborra, who flew to Curacao to meet Bosch last week said the former Miamian has a Venezuelan chief of staff and 15 Chilean militarily-trained men with him.
“Bosch had a book on the life of Yassir Arafat (the Palestinian guerrilla leader) with him and an impressive stack of cash on the table. He told me he had all the money, friends and protection he is going to need to defeat Castro,” said Iborra.
The FBI confirmed that Bosch had been held in Venezuela for several days in late November but was released after officials there learned that the United States would not request his extradition.
The Herald learned that the State Department and the Justice Department jointly decided to drop their search for Bosch.
“The position is that he is an undesirable alien,” a Justice Department source said. “If he comes to the U.S., he will be deported but will not be prosecuted.”
Bosch, who in 1968 was convicted of a bazooka attack on a Polish ship docked in Miami harbor, was released in 1972. He still has four years left on that sentence. After he skipped parole in Miami in June, the Justice Department issued a warrant for his arrest.
Federal sources indicated that Bosch is well financed by a few wealthy exiles from the United States who support his extremist, last-ditch attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Government in Cuba.
In the interview, that Iborra taped for radio station WQBA, Bosch said “We will invade the Cuban embassies and will murder the Cuban diplomats and will hijack the Cuban planes until Castro releases some of the political prisoners and begins to deal with us.” U.S. policy regarding Bosch changed because the government did not want to spend money on his extradition, prosecution and jailing, a Justice Department source said.