Terrorist Held in Venezuela

By Roberto Fabrico

Herald Staff Writer

Fugitive Cuban exile terrorist Dr. Orlando Bosch has been arrested in Caracas and is being held there pending extradition to the United States.

Reliable sources in Miami and Venezuela confirmed rumors that Bosch had been arrested. Venezuelan police, Immigration and Foreign Affairs Ministry officials refused to confirm or deny the arrest.

Bosch, the head of the former Cuban Power group who was convicted of making a bazooka attack on a Polish ship docked in Miami in 1968, skipped parole in Miami after June 1 visit with his parole officer.

He had identified himself in communications to local media as being the head of Accion Cubana, a terrorist group which had sent package bombs to several Cuban embassies and clamed he was putting a $3 million death “contract” on Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro.

Venezuelan officials are apparently trying to keep the arrest a secret. Bosch’s collaborators in Caracas had informed Cuban exile sources in Miami Tuesday that Bosch was arrested. A reliable confirmation could not be obtained until Wednesday, however.

Bosch is under “the strictest security,” sources indicated.

Venezuelan officials apparently fear that his Accion Cubana group in Caracas could try to free him or set off attacks against government offices.

Accion Cubana claimed responsibility last week in Caracas for bombs placed at the Panamanian Embassy in Caracas in October and in the Cuban-Venezuelan Friendship Institute early in November.

Herald sources indicated that when Bosch was arrested he was disguised and had a forged U.S. passport with him. The initial charge in Venezuela was being in possession of forged documents.

“We received great cooperation from the Venezuelan authorities from the beginning,” a Justice Department investigator said.

He also indicated the U.S. would seek to bring Bosch back to use his testimony in the investigation of Cuban exile terrorist activities and to have him serve the four years remaining on his term in the ship case.

Bosch is a pediatrician whose marriage ended while he was serving five years of the sentence in a federal jail in Atlanta.