The asylum trial of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles begins today in Texas.

BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND OSCAR CORRAL

Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, accused of terrorism against Cuba, goes before a U.S. immigration judge in El Paso today to plead for asylum, claiming that Fidel Castro is persecuting him.

In a second phase of the trial later this year, the U.S. government is expected to argue that Posada -- who has been accused, among other violent acts, of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people -- must be denied asylum because immigration law prohibits it for suspects of terrorism and serious crimes.

The trial will spotlight one of the most controversial figures in the Cuban exile community: a patriot to some and a terrorist to others.

It also poses a dilemma for the Bush administration, which is generally sympathetic to South Florida's exile community, but must weigh the case within the context of the post-9/11 war on terrorism.

Posada's lawyers anticipate calling as witnesses two Cuban torture victims and a Venezuelan human rights expert. They have submitted human rights reports to support arguments that their client would be tortured if deported to Cuba or Venezuela -- respectively, his countries of birth and citizenship. Though immigration officials have signaled they will not send Posada to either country, the decision is up to the judge.

In addition to the jetliner bombing, Posada has been accused in the bombing of Cuban hotels in 1997 that killed one person and of conspiring to assassinate Castro in 2000. He has been in U.S. custody since May, when immigration officers seized him in Miami-Dade County and charged him with illegal entry. He had sneaked into the country in March.

Neither Posada's lawyers nor Homeland Security prosecutors have released the evidence they have filed. Though filings in immigration court are not publicly available, The Herald has examined some of them -- including Posada's asylum application and some of the government's motions.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Homeland Security agency handling the case, declined to comment on grounds the case is still in litigation. Posada's lead lawyer, Eduardo Soto, said he is ``confident that we will prevail with respect to obtaining protection for our client.''

The defense plans to portray Posada, 77, as a patriotic anti-Castro militant whose actions should be viewed in the context of an ongoing legitimate struggle between the Cuban regime and antigovernment factions. Lawyers also will argue that Posada, now old and ill, faces constant danger abroad and that his former service as a CIA operative during the Bay of Pigs era should be considered.

The government is expected to cast Posada as a dangerous criminal with access to false passports and powerful friends -- a man who likely could continue living in relative safety abroad using the covert methods that have served him well for years.

A TERRORIST IN '60S?

Immigration Judge William Abbott had asked defense lawyers and the government to file briefs on whether Posada's actions in the 1960s -- when the CIA backed him -- could be construed as terrorism under today's standards.

In response, defense lawyers say Posada is a soldier in the ongoing Cuban ''civil war'' dating to the 1960s, when the CIA encouraged exiles to join the anti-Castro struggle.

In a recent brief, the U.S. government declined to address the issue. In separate filings, government prosecutors allege Posada has been accused of the Cuban jetliner attack, the hotel bombings and the Castro assassination plot.

Posada has admitted organizing the hotel bombings. He denies masterminding the jet attack, and was acquitted of those charges in one court but escaped from a Venezuelan prison before the case ended. He was convicted in connection with the Castro plot in Panama, but later pardoned.

Foreign pardons, however, are not recognized by U.S. immigration law, and thus the original conviction can be weighed by the judge to decide his asylum claim.

To qualify for asylum, an applicant must demonstrate he has a well-founded fear of persecution as a result of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

Posada's asylum application says he is part of a social group: his lawyers say that group is the community of former CIA operatives trained to fight Castro in the 1960s.

Though Posada says he fears persecution specifically in Cuba and Venezuela, he cited as evidence of Cuban persecution elsewhere a failed assassination attempt in Guatemala in 1990.

''I was shot in the face, causing fractures on both sides of my inferior mandible and deformation to my tongue resulting in trouble speaking and swallowing,'' Posada wrote in his asylum application.

``My left lung was bruised, both my arms were severely bruised and I am partially deaf in both ears. I was hospitalized for a month.''

The government indirectly suggests in its evidence that Posada is exaggerating the danger he faces abroad. U.S. evidence shows Posada has lived without being attacked in other Central American countries and has traveled extensively throughout the region and the Caribbean without being harmed.

FIRING SQUAD FEARS

Posada wrote in his application that if returned to Cuba, Castro would have him shot by a firing squad. And if sent to Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez -- a Castro ally -- ''would more likely than not seek to imprison and torture me on behalf of Castro for crimes I did not commit and for which I was never found guilty,'' Posada wrote.

There is precedent for not deporting someone to Venezuela for fear of torture.

On Feb. 18, a Miami immigration judge suspended the deportation of two former Venezuelan lieutenants accused of bombing diplomatic missions in Caracas on grounds they could be tortured if returned home.