A letter bearing the signature of ailing leader Fidel Castro criticized a U.S. judge's decision to release his longtime foe Luis Posada Carriles on bail, and accused the American government of planning to free a "monster."
Entitled "Reflections of the Commander in Chief," the written statement distributed late Tuesday was the third in recent days attributed to Castro, who has not been seen in public in more than eight months after undergoing intestinal surgery.
"The answer is brutal," Castro wrote, referring to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso that Posada, 79, should be freed pending trial in May on charges of lying to immigration authorities in a bid to become a naturalized citizen.
Cardone earlier Tuesday denied motions by U.S. prosecutors to either reverse her decision or hold a hearing on the origin of property Posada could use to post his $250,000 bond.
While Cuba and Venezuela accuse Posada of being a terrorist responsible for numerous violent acts, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, the Castro statement distributed by Foreign Ministry officials noted that the U.S. government has held him instead on a far less serious immigration charge.
"He was protected by being charged with a simple violation of migratory filings," the communique read. "The government of the United States and its most representative institutions have decided the liberation of the monster beforehand."
Castro's statement also drew a connection between "the criminal and terrorist character of the accused" and the current U.S. government. "The most genuine representative of the system of terror that has been imposed upon the world by the technological, economic and political superiority of most potent power in the world is, without question, George W. Bush," the communique read.