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NY Times reporter to testify in trial of ex-CIA agent.

USA, March 16, 2011.- A New York Times reporter who interviewed an ex-CIA agent about masterminding bombings in Cuba in 1997 is set to testify at terrorist Luis Posada Carriles' Texas perjury trial.

Ann Louise Bardach has been fighting subpoenas for years. She says her testimony will make sources less likely to talk to reporters. She's set to testify Wednesday.

Posada's defense also opposed her testimony, asking during a November arraignment for a judge to exclude tapes of her interviews from evidence. Bardach recorded much of what Posada said, but not all since she says he often switched off her recorder to elaborate on his answers. The defense motion was denied, and Bardach will be the last in a 10-week parade of prosecution witnesses.

Prosecutors say she's needed to help link former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles to the bombings. Posada is accused of lying during U.S. immigration hearings about his role in them.

Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo was killed by an explosion in the lobby bar of Havana's Hotel Copacabana, and about a dozen others were injured in the wave of blasts between April and September 1997.

Posada is not on trial for the bombings, only for lying about them. He has been charged with interfering with a U.S. terrorism investigation, perjury and immigration fraud.

Bardach has expressed concern about her personal safety to the Justice Department because of the politically charged nature of the case and noted that her computer was recently hacked remotely.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Reardon said during opening statements that Posada granted the Times interviews because he was angry the bombings hadn't hurt Cuban tourism more and "was looking for more bang for the buck."

Posada has since recanted statements he made to Bardach, saying they were in English, which he doesn't really speak. As a young man, however, Posada lived and worked in Ohio, and he also served as a translator while helping the U.S. support Contra rebels in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Court documents include only portions of the interview transcript that focus on the bombings. The New York Times gave The Associated Press additional excerpts.

Those include a part where Posada says he understands English and declares he has a clear conscience, saying "I sleep like a baby." (Cubaminrex-RHC)