Venezuela says Freddy Lugo conspired with Cuban exile militant Luis Posada
Carriles to blow up a Cuban jetliner, but Lugo denies it and said Posada
should return to jail.

BY OSCAR CORRAL - AND ALFONSO CHARDY

CARACAS

Breaking 29 years of silence, one of two men convicted in the 1976 bombing of
a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people said in an exclusive interview that
exile militant Luis Posada Carriles should be extradited to Venezuela to stand
trial in the case.

But Freddy Lugo -- who claims he was an innocent dupe in the bomb plot --
denied that he made incriminating statements Venezuelan officials attribute to
him in their application to have Posada sent to Caracas.

Posada, a former CIA operative who has been linked to a series of 1997
bombings at Cuban hotels, is in U.S. custody after sneaking into the country
this year. He is seeking asylum in a case that largely hinges on the shadowy
events of 1976 -- the year Lugo says changed his life forever.

Lugo told The Herald that Posada should be returned to Venezuela because he
had escaped from a Venezuelan jail before a case against him in the airliner
bombing was resolved.

Posada escaped in 1985 -- after an initial acquittal but while a prosecutor's
appeal was pending. Two years later, a Caracas court acquitted Posada's
associate, Cuban exile militant Orlando Bosch. But the court convicted Lugo
and his friend, Hernan Ricardo.

''He escaped from a Venezuelan jail,'' Lugo said during the hourlong
interview. ``He must come to finish serving his time here, like I did, being
innocent.''

In a June 10 statement as part of its extradition request, the Venezuelan
Embassy in Washington, D.C., cited Lugo as a key witness against Posada. The
statement said the Venezuelan government had delivered to the United States
evidence that includes ``the testimony of Freddy Lugo confirming his
participation in the blowing up of the plane and of urgent calls made by [Lugo
and Ricardo] to Posada Carriles shortly after the disaster, seeking his help.''

That testimony has not been released to the public. But Lugo said of it:
``It's false.''

Bernardo Alvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, said what
matters legally in the case is Lugo's prior testimony.

''There are statements on the part of Freddy Lugo which are clear and
consistent over the years,'' Alvarez said in an e-mail to The Herald Friday.
``We do not know what Lugo said or why he said it to The Miami Herald, but we
know what he told the authorities and this is consistent with the submitted
evidence.''

Posada told The Herald earlier this year that he didn't believe Lugo was
involved in the bombing. ''In my opinion, Hernan Ricardo may have been
involved, although he always denied everything,'' he said. ``Freddy Lugo was a
fool.''

Lugo still lives in Caracas, in a one-story whitewashed house in a working
class neighborhood. It's surrounded by a 10-foot concrete wall. He says he
makes his money driving a cab.

He lives with his sister, his son and his daughter-in-law and keeps a low
profile.

During the interview at his home, Lugo immediately proclaimed his innocence.
He also said he did not know if Posada or the other men implicated in the
attacks -- Ricardo and Bosch -- were guilty or innocent.

''I only know that I know nothing,'' Lugo said. ``I participated indirectly
without knowing anything.''

A SCAPEGOAT

Alternately serious and jovial, Lugo portrayed himself as a scapegoat, an
innocent bystander drawn into a plot that the other three may or may not have
hatched without his knowledge.

''Journalists perhaps don't want to interview me because I don't have anything
explosive to tell them,'' Lugo said.

Lugo and Ricardo were news photographers for the Caracas newspaper El Mundo at
the time of the 1976 bombing. They were also part-time covert agents for
DISIP, the Venezuelan state security agency.

One of the agency's top officials -- before he retired and started his own
private security agency -- was Posada. Posada also owned a private security
firm in Caracas that employed Ricardo -- though just before the bombing,
Posada reassigned him to serve as Bosch's chauffeur.

Lugo said that when he took a trip overseas with Ricardo in October 1976, he
had no idea the plane was doomed. He said he went along because he wanted to
buy camera equipment -- and Ricardo had offered to pay for the plane tickets.

''What an expensive trip, right? It destroyed my life,'' he said.

Lugo and Ricardo left Caracas for Trinidad and Tobago, where they boarded the
Cubana de Aviacion DC-8. They got off during a stopover in Barbados. Shortly
after takeoff from Barbados, the plane exploded.

Lugo and Ricardo left Barbados in a hurry, Venezuelan court records say.
Shortly after they reached Trinidad, they were arrested.

Along with Bosch and Posada, Lugo and Ricardo were tried in Venezuela and
acquitted by a military court in 1980, but the case was then continued in a
civilian court.

By 1987, Posada had escaped. Bosch was acquitted that year. Lugo and Ricardo
were convicted and sentenced to 20 years -- though in 1993 they were placed on
supervised release.

Lugo said he had not had any contact with Ricardo since. Ricardo could not be
reached for comment.

Posada's attorney in Caracas, Joaquin Chaffardet, and Posada both told The
Herald they believe Ricardo is now out of Venezuela and working as an
informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA spokesman Garrison
Courtney said the agency does not confirm whether someone is an informant.

According to official Venezuelan documents, Lugo told authorities that
immediately after he and Ricardo learned the plane had exploded, Ricardo was
both distraught and incredulous.

'JACKAL' REFERENCE

The Venezuelan account says Ricardo called himself the world's deadliest
terrorist -- deadlier even than Venezuela's notorious Carlos ``The Jackal.''

Venezuelan investigators said Lugo quoted Ricardo as saying: 'Damn, Lugo, I am
desperate and I feel like crying because I had never killed anyone. . . . `The
Jackal' may have his record as a great terrorist, but I surpassed him. What's
more, I surpassed even the Palestinians in terrorism and now I am the one who
has the record, because I am the one who blew up that thing.''

Lugo told The Herald he never heard Ricardo make any such statement. ''All
those things are false,'' he said, adding statements attributed to him during
the investigation were fabrications by detectives ``to advance their careers.''

Lugo revealed a hint of bitterness toward Posada, Ricardo and Bosch,
insinuating that he had been deliberately sucked into a sinister plot against
Fidel Castro.

He said that during his time in Venezuelan prisons, he distanced himself from
Posada, Ricardo and Bosch because he felt that associating with the three men
would have made him appear guilty.

''I didn't want to have any relations with those people because that would
compromise me more,'' he said. ''I didn't have anything to do with pro-Castro
groups or anti-Castro groups or any of those things.'' He said the strong
moral support and legal assistance that Posada, Bosch and Ricardo received
from Cuban exiles while in prison did not extend to him.

Now, Lugo said, he just wants to live the rest of his life quietly.

''I wander around the streets of Caracas relaxed,'' he said. ``I don't have
any problems or fear. I feel innocent down to the last bone in my body.''