Statement on Luis Posada Carriles
Campaign News | Sunday, 29 April 2007
The Cuba Solidarity Campaign demands that Luis Posada Carriles must be brought to justice. The British Government should also make a statement calling for Posada’s immediate arrest and extradition to Caracas where he must be brought to justice for the airline bombing of 1976.
There can be no double standards in the struggle against terrorism. Posada must stand trial.
By upholding the bail appeal for Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has exposed the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration’s so-called the War on Terror and Britain’s complicity with it.
By allowing Posada to go free before his trial for immigration violations and lying under oath, due to take place on May 11, the US courts have released a known terrorist suspect who previously escaped from a Venezuelan prison, a man who has boasted of helping set off bombs in Havana hotels 10 years ago, that killed an Italian tourist, and the alleged mastermind of the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.
Posada's employees confessed to that attack, and declassified FBI and CIA documents have shown that he attended the planning sessions.
Posada is a time served agent of the US secret services. He was involved in the CIA’s Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, he was involved in the murderous Plan Condor operation that assassinated leftwing leaders across Latin America in the 1970s, he was also a part of the illegal Iran-Contra operation in Nicaragua. He has boasted of trying to murder Fidel Castro on many occasions, and served time in Panama for plotting to kill the Cuban leader there in 2000.
But Posada has not been charged with crimes of terrorism in US courts. Instead, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detained him for lying to immigration authorities after he sneaked into the US in March 2005 and held a news conference announcing his triumphant return.
The US authorities have shown absolutely no interest in trying Posada for more serious crimes. Tellingly, Posada's lawyer warned the authorities that if charged, his client would reveal embarrassing secrets of his extensive career while working in collaboration with the CIA.
The United States has currently 385 suspected terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, many in isolation and all without the normal right to the due process of law. Yet Posada, a confessed terrorist, is sent home with nothing more than a security tag on his ankle.
The United States has not been able to persuade any of seven allies to accept Posada, a federal judge has ruled that he can't be extradited to Cuba or Venezuela because of entirely unfounded allegations that he might be tortured. Venezuela is pressing for him to be extradited to stand trial in Caracas and has taken the case to the United Nations. Meanwhile, an international petition signed by more than 4,000 heads of state, Nobel laureates and international personalities is supporting that call. 118 member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement have also joined the demand that Posada stand trial for his terrorist crimes.
Please add your name to the international open letter calling for the trial of Luis Posada Carriles at www.porlajusticia.cu
