
Declassified FBI report that reads "[a confidential source] all but admitted that Posada and [Orlando] Bosch had engineered the bombing of the airline."
Investigators from Cuba, Venezuela and the United States traced the planting of the bombs to two Venezuelan passengers, Freddy Lugo and Hernán Ricardo Lozano. Both men were employed by Posada at his private detective agency based in Venezuela, and they both subsequently admitted to the crime. A week after the mens' confessions, Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch were arrested on charges of masterminding the attack, and were jailed in Venezuela. Several Miami residents and Bosch met in the Dominican Republic shortly before the bombing and issued a statement declaring their intention of waging a terrorist campaign against Cuba. National Security Archives reveal documents outlining that Posada warned the CIA months before the 1976 bombing that fellow exiles were planning such an attack.Posada escaped from prison with Freddie Lugo in 1977, turning themselves in to the less than sympathetic Chilean authorities. He was immediately extradited, and served a further eight years before escaping again dressed as a priest. According to Posada, the escape was planned and financed by Jorge Mas Canosa, by then head of the Cuban American National Foundation, a group with close ties to the Reagan administration. Mas then helped Posada settle in El Salvador, where he joined the White House-directed operations in the region. In 2005, Posada was held by US authorities in Texas on the charge of illegal presence on national territory before being released on 19 April 2007, which elicited angry reactions from the Cuban and Venezuelan governments. His release occured despite the U.S. Justice Department urging the court to keep him in jail because he was "an admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks," a flight risk and a danger to the community. Washington has refused Venezuela's demands for extradition.By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.