Tapes from '05 key to Posada federal perjury trial

[January 19, 2011]  El PASO, Texas (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say ex-CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles' own words prove he's guilty of perjury, obstruction and immigration fraud, pointing to recordings of the anti-communist militant testifying during a 2005 U.S. immigration hearing.

Defense lawyers for the Cuban-born Posada -- on trial for allegedly lying during three days of immigration interviews in El Paso in August 2005 -- counter that U.S. investigators allowed those proceedings to go forward merely to build a case against Posada. They also have tried to raise doubts about English-to-Spanish translations that may have muddled the questions Posada was answering.

The 82-year-old Posada is charged with making false statements after he sneaked into the United States and sought political asylum. Prosecutors say Posada -- considered to be Fidel Castro's nemesis -- lied about how he reached American soil and failed to acknowledge his role in 1997 Cuban hotel bombings that killed an Italian tourist.

Maria Semeraro, an FBI linguist who compiled transcripts of the immigration hearing, testified Tuesday that Posada's slurred speech is difficult to understand, given that he lost part of his tongue after being shot in the face during an attempt on his life in Guatemala in 1990.

Posada's answers during the 2005 hearing were given in Spanish and translated by an interpreter, who also translated questions for Posada from English into Spanish. Posada attorney Arturo Hernandez pressed Semeraro on the fact that she could not hear the interpreter's translations of the questions for Posada, meaning it was hard to know exactly what he was answering.

Posada's lawyers also grilled Gina Garrett-Jackson, a Miami-based attorney for the Department of Homeland Security, who testified that federal authorities were considering pressing charges against Posada even as they prepared to interrogate him during the immigration hearing.

Garrett-Jackson previously read from transcripts from that hearing, and jurors heard recordings of the sessions. In them, Posada said he paid a smuggler to escort him through Mexico to Texas, but prosecutors maintain he actually sailed from a resort near Cancun to Miami.

Garrett-Jackson questioned Posada about the 1997 bombings, asking about interviews in 1998 with The New York Times in which he claimed responsibility for them. Posada was heard denying involvement and saying he didn't know what he was claiming responsibility for because the interviews were conducted in English.

In federal court, the white-haired Posada has worn an earpiece providing simultaneous translations, although past U.S. government intelligence reports indicate his English is adequate.

Cuba and Venezuela accuse Posada not only of the Havana bombings but also of plotting an explosion aboard a 1976 Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. The U.S. has not charged him in either matter, and an immigration judge previously ruled Posada cannot be deported to those countries for fear he could be tortured.

Posada was arrested in 2000 in Panama for planning to kill Castro during a visit there but eventually received a presidential pardon. Defense attorneys questioned Garrett-Jackson on why Posada was allowed to submit to naturalization hearings if his prior criminal conviction would have made him ineligible for U.S. citizenship.

Garrett-Jackson said that was not the only obstacle Posada faced in seeking U.S. naturalization but that she went ahead with the hearing because "he had a right to be heard."

Posada worked for the CIA in the early 1960s. He later moved to Venezuela and became head of that country's intelligence service until 1974. He was acquitted by a military tribunal in the 1976 airline bombing but escaped from prison before a government retrial.

Posada has been living in Miami while the immigration case against him proceeds.

[Associated Press; By WILL WEISSERT]

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