President says blast suspect to be kicked out if found

Associated Press

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS - It's just like old times: Nobody will admit knowing where Luis Posada Carriles is, but a lot of people would like to find the man who faces criminal charges of blowing up a jetliner amid a lifetime of struggle against Cuban President Fidel Castro.
 
President Ricardo Maduro told a news conference on Monday he was worried by reports that the 76-year-old Posada could be in the country and said he would be kicked out if here.

"If Posada Carriles is in Honduras, he will be punished and deported to Panama for violating our immigration laws," Maduro said, responding to reports that Posada entered the country aboard a private jet Thursday.

Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, who leaves office Wednesday, last week freed Posada and three other Cuban exiles who had been accused by Cuba of trying to assassinate Fidel Castro in November 2000.

She allowed the men to leave Panama immediately, though Posada still faces Venezuelan charges of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian jetliner that killed 73 people. He was facing trial in that case when he escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985.

Cuba immediately severed diplomatic relations with Panama. Venezuela recalled its ambassador, angered by Moscoso's argument that Posada might be killed in Venezuela, which has no death penalty.

Maduro said the only thing he knows about the case is that "a flight entered the country in an irregular way with four passengers with false passports and names and that one of them remained."

The president said he did not know if Posada remained, "but we are worried about the objectives that the person who remained here might have, because he might use our nation's territory to carry out terrorist or drug trafficking activities or to commit crimes."

The director-general of immigration, Ramon Romero, said a private plane landed Thursday in San Pedro Sula on Honduras' north coast and remained for 40 minutes. "Three people got off the plane and later flew on to Miami," he said. "Only three people appear on the flight manifest, but we proved there were four."

Local newspapers have reported that Posada was seen eating at a hotel Sunday with Rafael H. Nodarse, a Cuban-American who owns a Honduran television station.