The trial of Luis Posada Carriles will begin Jan. 11, 2011. Following a much-delayed scheduling hearing in El Paso, Texas, yesterday (June 2), U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone made it clear she does not want any more delays in the case.

Luis Posada Carriles

Although Posada is alleged to have been responsible for blowing up a Cubana Airlines flight in 1976, killing 73 people, and masterminding a Havana hotel bombing campaign that killed a tourist in 1997, he isn’t on trail for either of those crimes.

The charges he faces in El Paso, in fact, are relatively minor immigration violations but the facts alleged in the charges are still politically signifcant.

Prosecutors claim Posada committed immigration fraud and perjury when he entered the United States in 2005 by denying his role in the 1997 bombing campaign.