BY FRANCES ROBLES AND ALFONSO CHARDY

Panama's Supreme Court overturned Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles' 2004 presidential pardon, a ruling that could eventually land the controversial former CIA operative back in jail.

Given current Panamanian President Martín Torrijos' friendly relations with Cuba, Panama is likely to formally request Posada be extradited, according to Posada's Panamanian defense attorney. If the United States denies the request, international treaties call for the United States to hold a trial as if the case had occurred in the United States, the attorney said.

The 80-year-old alleged terrorist who dedicated his adult life to toppling -- or killing -- Fidel Castro was freed from an eight-year prison sentence in 2004 when former President Mireya Moscoso suddenly pardoned him.

Posada had been a longtime fugitive from Venezuelan justice when he was arrested in Panama City in 2000, accused of plotting to kill Castro during a presidential summit there. Posada and three allies were acquitted of more serious charges, but were sentenced to eight years for conspiracy, possessing explosives and endangering public safety.

He is now free and living at an undisclosed location in Miami.

Moscoso, a Bush Administration ally, pardoned him during her last week in office. She also pardoned another 182 people in three executive orders that week, including scores of journalists charged with libel.

COURT'S RULING

The Panamanian Supreme Court on Monday night declared the pardons unconstitutional, because Panamanian law dictates that such executive orders can only be granted for political crimes.

''If they did come to Panama to kill Fidel Castro, why? For money?'' Posada's Panamanian defense attorney Rogelio Cruz said in a telephone interview from Panama. "No -- because they are anti-Castro and have been all their lives, because Castro is a dictator. There's nothing more political than that.''

Panamanian Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez Ruiloba told The Miami Herald on Tuesday that she has to review the court's opinion to determine what action to take next.

''I will have to review the pardons case by case to see in what step of the judicial process those cases were at,'' she said in a telephone interview from Panama. ``I need to review the decision to see if it applies to him.''

Posada's Miami attorney, Arturo Hernandez, said it's possible the decision ''may be largely symbolic and may not have a direct impact'' on Posada -- at least for the moment, he said.

''I'd be surprised if this translated into any change in the status of my client in the United States,'' he said, noting that he had not yet read the court's ruling.

Posada caused a public stir when he showed up in Miami in 2005. Federal agents later arrested him on immigration allegations.

NO TAKERS

A Texas immigration judge ruled in Posada's 2005 deportation case that he could not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela, but could be removed to any other country that would take him. So far, no country has agreed to take Posada.

If Panama requests Posada's extradition, the U.S. government through the State and Justice Departments would have to submit the request to a federal court where a judge would decide if the request can proceed. Venezuela has requested Posada's extradition in relation to a 1976 airline bombing, but so far the Bush administration has not filed the request in federal court.

Mario Echevarria, newly installed president of the Miami organization Municipalities of Cuba in Exile, called the Panamanian action ''political'' and perhaps designed to please Cuba.

''My opinion is that what happened in Panama is purely a political act,'' Echevarria said.

"I don't believe that the government of Panama is in agreement with Cuba, but I believe this was done to avoid problems with Cuba.''