Editor -- In your article on the arrest by U.S. authorities of anti- Castro terrorist Luis Posada Carriles ("Arrest of Cuban ex-CIA figure puts Bush in tough political spot," May 18), you report that "the U.S. government generally does not return people to countries acting on Cuba's behalf." That is a quote from the Department of Homeland Security in response to the extradition request from Venezeula, where Posada escaped from prison.

The implications of this statement are shocking. Posada is accused of planning terrorist actions that caused the deaths of innocent people (including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner).

Evidence of his involvement in these acts includes his own admissions to U.S. journalists, and documents of U.S. intelligence agencies.

To suggest the United States can ignore its legal obligation to extradite Posada to Venezuela under the terms of its extradition treaty, simply because Cuba quite understandably supports Venezuela's request, is to suggest that the United States does not respect the rule of law.

DEBORAH JAMES Global Exchange San Francisco