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Trial of Salvadoran Terrorist Continues in Cuba.

CUBA, December  21th, 2010.- The trial against Salvadoran citizen Francisco Chávez Abarca, charged with terrorism acts against Cuba, began at the Crimes against State Security Department at the Provincial Tribunal of Havana.

Granma newspaper reported that the defendant admitted to receiving direct orders from Luis Posada Carriles, the self-confessed mastermind of the explosion of a Cubana airlines plane in 1976, which killed all 73 passengers.

Abarca has admitted his responsibility for terrorist acts during the 1990´s, principally focused against tourist sites in Havana and in the Varadero resort with the purpose of creating an unstable climate and affecting the economic development of the country.

The defendant is accused of corroborating with other Central American citizens who have been tried by Cuban courts, including Raúl Ernesto Cruz León, who placed several bombs, including the one that killed Italian tourist Fabio Di Chelmo at Hotel Copacabana.

Chávez Abarca was detained in Caracas on July 1st of this year, while trying to enter the country with a fake passport. He was extradited to Cuba a week later, following a red alert search warrant called for by INTERPOL. (Cubaminrex - RHC)