US Urged to Find Cuban Suspect

The Bush administration was under pressure yesterday to track down a Cuban exile and former CIA agent implicated in a series of terrorist attacks.

In the next few days, the Venezuelan government is due to demand the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles in connection with the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976, in which 73 people died. He is said to be hiding in Florida.

Mr Posada, 77, has also admitted carrying out attacks on Cuban tourist sites, including one in 1997 in which an Italian was killed. He was convicted in Panama over a 2000 plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Since being pardoned last year by the former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso, Mr Posada has travelled around Central America in search of a haven and according to his lawyer, Eduardo Soto, slipped into the US illegally across the Mexican border in March.

Mr Soto said he intended to seek political asylum on the strength of his work for the CIA in its efforts to oust President Castro in the 1960s.

"This is a test of George Bush's true colours on fighting terrorism, and it also opens up a huge can of worms on the CIA's involvement in anti-Castro violence in the 70s," said Peter Kornbluh at the National Security Archive, an independent watchdog group.

The archive has acquired a 1976 FBI document tying Mr Posada to the plot to down the Cuban airliner.

The document places Mr Posada at meetings at a Caracas hotel where the bombing of the Cubana Airlines DC-8 was planned.

At one meeting, the document said: "There was some disagreement as to who would take part in the various phases of the operation and who would claim credit for the bombing."

The Bush administration initially responded to news of Mr Posada's arrival with silence, but under pressure to comment, Roger Noriega, the top state department official for Latin America, suggested last week that the exile would have a hard time securing political asylum.