BY ERIKA BERAS

A brief fracas broke out today at a Little Havana gathering in support of Luis Posada Carriles, the Cuban exile militant facing federal prosecution in Texas and possible deportation -- if the United States can find a country willing to take him.

About 100 people gathered just before noon at the Bay of Pigs memorial at Southwest Eighth Street and 13th Avenue. They were playing loud music, holding up signs and exhorting motorists to honk their horns in support of Posada, 78, who is being detained in El Paso.

Others, such as employees of nearby stores, came out to watch.

Then, around 12:30 p.m., a handful of college-aged counterdemonstrators appeared across the street, denouncing Posada as a terrorist.

Miguel Saavedra, president of Vigilia Mambisa, an anti-Castro group and one of the organizers of the rally, yelled, ``Communists!''

Then about 30 people ran across the street, impeding traffic. The two sides briefly clashed, and a Posada critic was hit in the head with a microphone before the counterdemonstrators were chased down 12th Street.

Otherwise, the pro-Posada gathering was mostly peaceful.

Organized by a half-dozen anti-Castro groups, the pro-Posada demonstrators carried signs declaring Posada a hero and reading, ''You Like Freedom. Cubans Do Too,'' ''Posada: An American Hero'' and ``Posada: US Hero, Prisoner in the US to Please the Enemy of the US.''

Saavedra, who spent most of his time yelling into a megaphone, called the U.S. prosecution of Posada on charges of lying about how he sneaked into the country ``ridiculous.''

''He has brought a lot of justice to many people,'' he said.

The majority of people at the rally were Cuban exiles, such as Betty Aquit. Aquit, who says her husband, Reynaldo, spent 15 years in a Cuban prison, said that now -- when Fidel Castro is seriously ill -- is not the time to make an example of Posada.

''Cuba is almost free,'' she said, ``Why now?''

Non-Cuban demonstrators turned out as well. Fernando Balanda, a Chilean who has lived in the United States for 30 years, said he felt compelled to show support for his ``Cuban brothers.'

The nerve center of the rally was a car with speakers cranked up, playing the Cuban national anthem. Cuban and American flags fluttered in the air, and cars honked as they rolled by.

An entrepreneur walked through the midday mob selling flags and baseball caps and do-rags silkscreened with the Cuban flag. Two hours into the rally he had only sold a couple.

''All these people are retired and don't have any money,'' he complained, referring to the mostly older crowd.

Posada, a former CIA operative with ties to the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, is suspected of plotting the bombing of a Cuban jetliner three decades ago. He was indicted last week in El Paso on charges of lying under oath when applying for naturalization in September 2005 and last April.

Posada planned to plead not guilty at his arraignment Friday in El Paso and then request to be freed on bond, but the hearing was postponed until Monday, according to the office of Posada's attorney in Coral Gables, Eduardo Soto.

A federal immigration judge ruled Posada could not be sent to either Cuba or Venezuela, but could be removed to any other country willing to accept him. Several countries have rejected U.S. requests to take Posada. Posada once faced trial in Venezuela for the airliner bombing, but was acquitted. He then escaped from prison while awaiting retrial.

U.S. authorities have also reopened an investigation into Posada's alleged role in a series of 1997 tourist-site bombings in Havana. One Italian tourist died.

''I don't understand what the problem is,'' said Andres Lopez, 70, who was handing out fliers for another upcoming rally. ``Those men aren't a threat. They don't have any ties to the Taliban or Iraq.''