Renowned anti-Cuban terrorist freed in the US
News from Cuba | Monday, 26 October 2009
Renowned anti-Cuba terrorist Santiago Alvarez Fernandez-Magriña was released on Wednesday from an Immigration prison in the US state of Georgia, where he was serving a sentence for stockpiling weapons and obstruction of justice.
With a long terrorist record against Cuba, Alvarez Fernandez-Magriña is one of the closest collaborators of self-confessed criminal Luis Posada Carriles, and operates with total impunity in Miami under the façade of a businessman from a development company, underscored the Cubadebate web site.
Imprisoned since November 2005 along with an unpatriotic person, Osvaldo Mitat, Alvarez Fernandez-Magriña pleaded guilty of conspiracy to have illegal weaponry, and admitted his aggressive purposes against Cuba.
Even with this evidence, the US District Attorney’s Office didn’t press charges on terrorism, and the two criminals were sentenced to 4 years in jail, reduced to 11 months in exchange for the voluntary return of an arms cache that was hidden, the Notimex news agency recalls.
The sentence was reduced despite the fact that the authorities seized the largest arms cache in the history of south Florida, made up by 30 automatic rifles, a rocket launcher, several grenades, over 200 pounds of dynamite, and 14 pounds of C-4 explosives.
At the end of 2007, Alvarez and Mitat pleaded guilty of obstructing justice in an investigation linked to charges of migratory fraud against Posada Carriles and they refused to testify before a federal grand jury on the illegal entry of this terrorist to the United States, who is claimed by Venezuelan justice.
Counsel Jose Pertierra, Venezuela’s representative in the extradition case against Posada Carriles told Cubadebate from Washington that Alvarez Fernandez-Magriña “is not a US citizen.
He’s only a permanent resident and his criminal record works against his residency”.
Alvarez Fernandez-Magriña enlisted as a mercenary in the 2506 Brigade (which participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba) and maintained close ties with Florida-based paramilitary organizations, like Alpha 66 and Comandos L, under the supervision of the Central Intelligence Agency (the CIA).
