Associated Press
December 4, 2000

Castro: Exile Won't Be Put To Death

          By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          HAVANA (AP) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro said that the arrested
          exile he wants to extradite from Panama for trial on terrorism charges
          would not be put to death if convicted.

          Castro, who accused Luis Posada Carriles of plotting to kill him last
          month in Panama, said Sunday that Posada would face a maximum
          sentence of 20 years in prison in his home country.

          The declaration was intended to assuage concerns in Panama and
          elsewhere that Cuba would execute Posada. Castro said there is ``not
          the smallest excuse'' for Panama to deny extradition.

          ``Revenge is not what moves us,'' said Castro, who shook up a summit
          of Latin American and Iberian leaders in Panama by announcing that
          Posada was in the country and planned to kill him.

          Cuba blames Posada, 72, for a series of attacks and plots against the
          communist country and its leader, including the 1976 bombing of a
          Cuban jetliner off the coast of Barbados that killed 73 people.

          Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso has said that rather than
          extradite Posada immediately, the country would probably first try him
          and three other Cuban exiles arrested hours after Castro's Nov. 17
          announcement.

          Police are investigating whether a cache of plastic explosives found near
          the Panama City airport the same day belonged to the men. Their lawyer
          has said they knew nothing about the explosives.