Luis Posada Carriles 'Trying him for minor immigration infractions was a travesty of justice and was designed to fool people into believing the government was serious about prosecuting this man' � Jose Pertierra Lawyer representing Venezuelan Government

Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, Texas, dismissed the seven-count indictment accusing Posada Carriles, 79, of immigration fraud. Mr. Boyd said he did not know yet whether federal prosecutors would appeal the ruling and stated that “We’re reviewing the decision.”

Judge Cardone allowed Posada Carriles to leave jail in April on bail totaling $350,000. He has been in Miami, living with his wife and awaiting trial.

Defense attorney Felipe Millan said Judge Cardone ruled that statements by Posada Carriles that were to be used against him in the trial had been obtained unconstitutionally.

His lawyers had recently sought to have the statements excluded from the trial on grounds that U.S. officials had entrapped him by not telling him that what he thought was an immigration interview was actually a criminal interrogation. “They tricked him,” Atty. Millan said.

Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative, has a long history of violent opposition to Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He is considered a terrorist in Cuba and Venezuela, where he is accused of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, and lived in Venezuela at the time of the bombing, which killed 73 people, and is a naturalized citizen there.

Cuba and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have criticized Washington for having a double standard in its war on terror, saying Posada Carriles was being treated with kid gloves because of his CIA past. They say he should be charged with terrorism and murder, not immigration crimes.

“Trying him for minor immigration infractions was a travesty of justice and was designed to fool people into believing the government was serious about prosecuting this man,” said Jose Pertierra, a Washington-based lawyer representing the Venezuelan government, which has requested Posada Carriles’ extradition.

Posada Carriles had been in U.S. custody since May 2005 after he entered the country illegally and sought asylum. In January, he was indicted on seven immigration fraud charges accusing of lying to immigration authorities and faced up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Jailed in Panama for plotting to kill Castro during an Ibero-American summit in 2000, he was pardoned by outgoing President Mireya Moscoso in 2004. Cuba also accuses him of masterminding bomb blasts in Havana hotels in 1997 that killed an Italian tourist.