Ex-CIA operative tied to Cuba bombings: jury

By Tom Brown

MIAMI (Reuters) - A federal grand jury has accused anti-Castro Cuban exile and former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles of lying to U.S. authorities about his role in bomb attacks against tourist sites in Cuba in 1997.

In an indictment filed against Posada by the grand jury in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, he is accused of seeking to "obstruct and impede" the work of the U.S. government by lying during an immigration interview about his role in the attacks.

An Italian man was killed in the 1997 bomb blasts in Cuba in a case the indictment highlights as an "offense involving international terrorism."

The arraignment of Posada, who has a long history of violent opposition to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has been set for April 17 and jury selection for a trial is expected to begin on August 10.

Posada is wanted in both Cuba and Venezuela, where he is accused of masterminding the 1976 suitcase bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. That bombing occurred while Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan, lived in the oil-rich South American nation.

The latest indictment marks the first time since Posada arrived in the United States seeking asylum in March 2005 that he has been linked in a court proceeding to the Cuba bombings which killed Italian national Fabio di Celmo.

Posada's Miami-based attorney Arturo Hernandez could not be reached for immediate comment.

But a front-page story in Thursday's edition of Cuba's Communist Party newspaper Granma called the indictment "a surprising change of strategy" by U.S. prosecutors.