Posada Carrilles Sailed to a Restaurant on the Miami River, Witness Testifies

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​If witnesses in the Luis Posada Carrilles trial can be believed, the lies told by the alleged Cuban bomber were due to more than a misunderstanding of el ingles. Posada, who has been tied to a series of bombings in Cuba and the downing of a passenger plane, had told officials he entered the country on foot across the U.S.-Mexican boarder.

But according to Gilbert Abascal, who testified in the ongoing federal trial Tuesday, he was on the boat that sailed into the Miami River with Posada on board and docked outside a restaurant where "the head of the police" was eating.

The docking on the river brought to a successful end the secret "conspiracy" to smuggle Posada, who had been living in Mexico and Central America, into the country.

The trip, according to Abascal, took place in 2005 aboard a converted shrimper that brought Posada from Isla Mujeres, Mexico. When it was time to offload the elderly Cuban exile onto a smaller boat and take him to the restaurant, where a car awaited his arrival, a crewman spotted the police official.

Abascal is expected to describe the getaway when he takes the witness stand again today.

But if the tale fuels Posada's image in the exile Cuba community as a Cuban 007 snaking around the Americas trying to topple communist regimes, defense attorneys were quick to question Abascal's credibility.

They got the witness for the prosecution to admit he lied under oath on his citizenship papers and other official documents.

For more on Posada read the New Times story Cuban Killer Luis Posada Carrilles Goes on Trial.

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