PANAMA.— A Panamanian attorney recently applied to the Supreme Court of Justice for the extradition to Panama of Luis Posada Carriles. In 2000, Carriles was convicted with four other terrorists of an assassination attempt on the Cuban leader Fidel Castro which, if perpetrated, would have resulted in the death of hundreds of people.

Silvio Guerra, one of the prosecuting attorneys present at the trial of Posada, Gaspar Jiménez, Guillermo Novo, Pedro Remón and César Matamoros, reported to the press that he had asked the Supreme Court, in conjunction with the Panamanian Foreign Ministry, to present an extradition order to the U.S. government.

Guerra recalled that this case became "a mockery of Panamanian justice," when Mireya Moscoso, then president, pardoned the terrorists a few months after they were convicted.

The international record on the four terrorists of Cuban origin shows that other countries, such as Venezuela, have also applied for their extradition, but without results, Guerra added.

"My concern is that the extradition application made by the Republic of Panama is also included in this record, in the name of Panamanian jurisdiction and via Foreign Ministry channels," he stated.