Bosch was arrested by Venezuelan authorities in November 1976 in his suite at the Hotel Anauco Hilton in Caracas, Venezuela. He, Carrilles, Ricardo and Lugo were indicted for "qualified homicide and manufacture and use of war weapons." Anti-Castro terrorists began bombing Venezuelan establishments.

Though Bosch applauded the plane's bombing, he denied any involvement in the matter. "You have to fight violence with violence," Bosch told U.S. government officials. "At times you cannot avoid hurting innocent people." He was detained in prison while his case was tried and appeals were filed.

In September 1980, a Venezuelan military judge acquitted all four men. But the decision wasn't ratified by a higher court, so the case was sent to a Venezuelan civilian court for retrial.

Freeing Bosch became a cause célèbre in some corners of the Cuban-American community. The city of Miami declared March 25, 1983, "Orlando Bosch Day." In February 1984, an appeals court ordered that new charges be brought against Bosch.

Enter Ambassador Reich.

Reich had been a player in the Reagan administration's controversial anticommunist Central American policies, most notably as the director of the State Department's office of public diplomacy. Just a few weeks after Reich began his work as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela in June 1986, Venezuelan judge Alberto Perez Marcano of the 11th Penal Court acquitted Bosch in the bombing of Flight 455, while convicting Lugo and Ricardo and sentencing them to 20 years in prison. (Carilles escaped from prison in 1985.) A different judge then ordered the case reviewed by a higher court.

"We have bounced from one judge to another, from one court to another, from one jurisdiction to another. I've lost my sense of direction with all these legal decisions," Bosch told reporters. He denied involvement, though he said the terrorist bombing was justified since Flight 455 "was a war plane, because Cuban airlines are not tourist lines. In that plane there were 27 members of the Cuban DGI" -- the Cuban intelligence agency -- "and seven North Korean diplomats."

Reich sent a diplomatic cable back to the U.S. State Department informing it of the developments in the case. "Judge Alberto Perez Marcano has reportedly absolved Orlando Bosch for the 1976 bombing of a Cubana de Aviacion Airliner off the coast of Barbados," he wired the secretary of state. "Bosch's whereabouts remain unclear." Reich then noted of Bosch, "if released and free to travel, could conceivably ... request a visa." He continued:

"Local media would undoubtedly seek mission statement on Bosch's eligibility to travel to the U.S. Post would very much appreciate public affairs guidance from the Department [of State], in coordination with [Department of] Justice, in order to prepare for inquiries by Bosch or host country media. We understand that there are a number of outstanding warrants for Bosch's arrest in the US. We would appreciate an update of his legal status. Reich."

Bosch remained in prison while the final review process was conducted. Reich continued to update the secretary of state on the case. Someone "pulled me aside during a cocktail party honoring the Venezuelan Navy on July 24 and told me that if the court of [appeals] supported the lower court decision to free Orlando Bosch 'This guy has to be taken out of the country in five seconds,'" Reich cabled to the secretary of state. "Fidel Castro would have him assassinated." Later that year, Reich alerted the State Department that he had been told "that a hit team consisting of two men and one woman had arrived in Venezuela from Cuba to assassinate Orlando Bosch."

But while the declassified cables that have been released show Reich's clear interest in the case, they don't seem to reveal any obvious advocacy to get Bosch into the United States. In one cable he reports that he told a Venezuelan government official that the Americans considered the Bosch issue "an internal matter affecting Venezuelan justice and it is not an issue between the two countries." Reich also writes that a man told him that "friends" of Bosch "were making plans to spirit Bosch out of Venezuela." Reich wrote that he responded that "I believe Bosch is wanted in the U.S. for parole violation (sic)." The man said that Bosch could maybe be taken to a third country.

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