Posada arrives in Miami to await trial

MIAMI, April 19 (UPI) -- Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles returned to Miami Thursday following a two-year incarceration in El Paso, Texas, on immigration fraud charges.

Posada was released on a $350,000 bond while he awaits trial scheduled for May 11.

Venezuela Thursday condemned the release on bond of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, wanted in Venezuela on terror charges.

Officials in Caracas called for Posada to be extradited to Venezuela to face trial for a 1970s plane bombing, Globovision TV reported.

The 79-year-old Posada 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.

Earlier this week, 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, and a requirement that he wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

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