Castro denounces US release of anti-regime militant

HAVANA: Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in his third article in less than two weeks, on Tuesday decried the conditional release from a US jail of an anti-Castro militant wanted by Cuba and Venezuela for the deadly downing of a Cuban jet.

A Texas judge allowed Luis Posada Carriles to walk free on last Friday pending a hearing on US immigration fraud charges, a decision that Castro charged was taken under President George W Bush's 'instructions.'

"It was President Bush himself who ignored at all times the criminal and terrorist side of the accused," Castro wrote in an article titled 'Brutal Response.'

"He was protected by simply being charged with an immigration violation," he wrote.

"The response is brutal. The US government and its most representative institutions decided to release the monster early."

Castro has used the power of the pen recently to rile against Washington, as he recovers from gastrointestinal surgery that forced him to hand power to his brother Raul for the first time eight months ago.