Panama's outgoing president on Thursday pardoned four Cuban exiles jailed for plotting to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000 and three or them flew straight to Miami, a haven of anti-Castro groups. The pardoned men were among six sentenced in April for their part in the failed attempt to bomb a University of Panama auditorium where Castro was due to speak during a summit of Iberian and Latin American leaders. President Mireya Moscoso, who leaves office next week, said she freed the Cubans for humanitarian reasons. Her decision was certain to infuriate Cuba, which had warned it would break ties with Panama if the men were pardoned. Three of the plotters were Cuban-born U.S. citizens and on their release they flew directly to a small airport in Miami, where they were met by their families. The fourth was prominent anti-Castro activist Luis Posada, who escaped in the 1980s from a Venezuelan jail where he faced charges of planning the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada is not a U.S. citizen so did not travel to Miami, and it was unclear where he was. --More 2320 Local Time 2020 GMT
