U.S. protecting accused airliner bomber, Castro says

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http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5797471&cKey=1116472839000

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro accused the U.S. government on Wednesday of wanting to protect an anti-Communist militant who was arrested in Miami and faces extradition to Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban plane.

Castro angrily called the capture of Luis Posada Carriles by federal agents on Tuesday a "farce, a great lie" and said the operation had been staged.

"It is evident that the purpose of the U.S. government is to protect Posada Carriles ... to avoid him going on trial and being punished," he said on a live television broadcast.

Cuban-born Posada, 77, a former CIA operative who has spent his life fighting Castro's rule, was arrested after emerging from hiding at a news conference. He had slipped into the United States from Mexico in March seeking political asylum.