Cuban militant can return to Miami

MIAMI, April 18 (UPI) -- Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles will be allowed to move to Miami while he awaits trial in Texas.

Posada can be released on $350,000 bond while he awaits trial scheduled for May on immigration fraud charges, The Miami Herald reported Wednesday. The Justice Department tried to stop his release, a request an appellate court in New Orleans rejected. Posada's wife resides in Miami. Conditions of his release would include 24-hour confinement to her home here.

"We're gratified to know the legal system works," said Arturo Hernandez, Posada's attorney in Miami. "The court of appeals heard both sides of the argument, and we're pleased that they ruled in our favor. We feel that justice was done."

Posada, who escaped from prison in Venezuela in 1985, is charged in that country with masterminding the bombing of a Cuban jetliner in 1976, killing 73 people. He has denied any involvement in the bombing.

The Cuban militant contends he entered the United States across the Mexican border in 2005, though Cuban officials assert he was smuggled into the country with the help of anti-Castro activists.

Posada was being held in Texas, where a judge said this month he should be freed pending an immigration hearing.

Venezuela and Cuba are demanding his extradition to Venezuela. The United States has said it would not turn Posada over to Venezuelan authorities.