New attempt to protect Posada Carriles
Campaign News | Monday, 10 April 2006
Meeting on 20 April to grant him US citizenship
Havana 7 April: A new political strategy is underway aimed at smoothing the road for terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
On April 20, in El Paso, Texas, immigration authorities and lawyers are to meet with the terrorist to decide whether or not to grant him naturalization as a U.S. citizen.
Behind this interest, there is an obvious attempt to paralyze the extradition process.
It is clear that Posada Carriles is a torturer and terrorist and the U.S. government would be involved in an unprecedented scandal if it were to accept citizenship being granted to an individual who it has acknowledged is a danger to natural security.
At the same time, news has begun to circulate regarding the presentation of a habeas corpus on behalf of the murderer, given that if he is not put on trial, preventative detention has facilitated that recourse.
All of these possibilities regarding double talk in the fight against terrorism were discussed Thursday night (April 6) during the "Roundtable" television program titled "Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch, anti-Cuban terrorism and the criminal policies of the White House."
The Venezuelan Supreme Court submitted its application for Posada’s extradition in May 2005, basing it not only on his terrorist history with respect to Cuba, but also to his links with the Venezuelan secret police (DISIP).
Randy Alonso, the "Roundtable" moderator, confirmed that to date, the only procedure taken against Posada is an administrative one regarding immigration issues.
In a telephone call from Washington, attorney José Pertierra noted that the attempt to grant naturalization is nothing more than a maneuver that was probably set in motion "before Posada arrived in the United States."
Pertierra also commented that the U.S. administration has been forced by its own laws to acknowledge the terrorist’s criminal history; if not, it would have to end his detention, given that those same laws prohibit the indefinite arrest of any citizen.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/abril/vier7/16maniobra.html
New website zeros in on Posada Carriles case
http://www.familiesforjustice.net/
Havana 3 April: A daily updated website on the case of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, including important declassified documents released by US authorities that clearly link Posada to the Barbados downing of a Cubana Airlines DC-8 that killed all 73 people aboard, may be accessed at
http://www.familiesforjustice.cu/
and
http://www.familiesforjustice.net/
in English and Spanish.
The Relatives of the Barbados Plane Bomb Victims Committee publishes on the homepage a selection of news items and analysis on the case by Cuban and foreign authors, said Camilo Rojo, the son of one of the DC8’s crew. Rojo is on the committee’s executive board.
Included are a group of personal testimonies with details on the lives of the relatives of the victims of the plane sabotage.
Also available for downloading at the website are videos of interviews and statements on his terrorist actions given by Posada Carriles to US media, as well as the original recording of the last radio messages between the plane’s crew and Barbados’ Seawell Airport Control Tower.
By means of the website, information may be accessed as to how persons can help in the effort to have Posada face justice, and how to contact people around the world that are aware of the case.
The website is also in line with Cuba’s unrelenting denunciation of Posada’s crimes, said Roberto Gonzalez, the brother of Rene Gonzalez one of the Cuban Five anti-terrorist fighters unjustly held in US prisons.
"The person that took the pictures of the assassin in Panama could have easily fired a rifle shot at him, thus avenging Posada’s many crimes. Yet we only denounced that he was there," said Gonzalez.
"After discovering the assassination plot against Commander in Chief Fidel Castro [in 2000], which could have also killed hundreds of Panamanians, it was Cuba that sounded the alert. Then, in 2005, we were the ones who warned the world that Posada had entered into the United States of America with absolute impunity," added Gonzalez.
Posada's victims launch website demanding that Bush extradite or try him
Havana, 1 April: THE family members of the victims of the sabotage of the Cubana passenger plane in 1976, which led to 73 deaths, have launched an Internet page with information on the masterminds behind the attack, who include terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, detained in the United States since last year.
The web page brings together signatories calling on U.S. President George W. Bush to extradite or try Luis Posada Carriles.
This call is being made via the www.familiesforjustice.net web page opened by the Family Committee of the Barbados Martyrs, in memory of the sabotage of the Cuban aircraft.
Under the slogan: "Say it to Bush and the U.S. Congress: Extradite or try the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles," visitors can add their signature to the petition of the US-Based organisation Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition.
"You can support the ANSWER Coalition initiative to prevent terrorist Luis Posada Carriles being released in the United States. Support the demand to extradite the terrorist to Venezuela," the box adds. Posada escaped from a Venezuelan jail in 1985 with the help of the CIA.
The web page details of the sabotage of the aircraft, which exploded off the Barbados coast; the demands of the victims’ families; information on those who were killed; and documentation and details on the perpetrators of the criminal act.
"While the victims of September 11 are still awaiting the capture and trial of Osama bin Laden, allegedly in hiding in a dark cave, we, the victims of the acts of terrorism of the Osama bin Laden of Latin America, Luis Posada Carriles, know very well where he is," say the relatives in a communiqué on the website. "He is detained in a center holding undocumented immigrants. We have seen with dread how the U.S. government is granting that same immigrant treatment to Posada Carriles and is protecting him, while knowing perfectly well that he is a torturer and international terrorist," they add.
During the launch of the site in Havana, Roberto González, the brother of one of the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in the United States for combating that scourge, deplored the U.S. government’s total disregard for life.
González explained that when the case of the criminal Posada Carriles is linked to that of the five Cuban anti-terrorists, the island’s need to seek information on terrorism in the United States becomes totally clear.
The Five, as Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, René González, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González are known, were arrested in September 1998 for monitoring Miami terrorist groups responsible for the death of more than 3,000 Cubans in the last 47 years.
Sentenced to prison terms ranging from double life to 15 years in a rigged trail in Miami, the Five are still imprisoned despite the unanimous ruling of three judges from the 11th Circuit Atlanta Court of Appeals that declared the trial illegal and arbitrary, and which the prosecution has appealed.
René González’ brother recalled that Cuba exposed the presence of Posada Carriles in the United States and thanks to that the U.S. authorities were unable to ignore the fact.
"There is a criminal in the United States whose extradition has been applied for by a legitimately constituted government like Venezuela and the U.S. government is making it impossible for him to be tried for his acts of terrorism," he highlighted.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2006/marzo/vier31/15sitio-i.html
Posada Carriles is “threat to security” says US Immigration
Terrorist to stay in jail
WASHINGTON, 31 March: The US authorities say that they will not release Luis Posada Carrilles, wanted in Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, because he represents a threat to national security.
"Because of your long history of criminal activity and violence in which innocent civilians were killed, your release from detention would pose a danger to both the community and the national security of the United States," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said in a letter to the suspect obtained by AFP.
The immigration authorities announced last week that Posada would remain in custody in El Paso, Texas, but did not publicly announce the reasons for the decision.
Posada was jailed for eight years in Panama in another bomb plot, but was pardoned last year and made his way to the United States, where he was eventually arrested in May after he requested asylum and later withdrew the request.
The United States refused to send Posada, 78, a radical opponent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and a former CIA agent, to Cuba or Venezuela citing fears that he would be tortured.
But it has also failed to find another third country that would accept him.
Cuban and Venezuelan authorities accuse the US government of harboring a known terrorist.
Posada was detained in Venezuela in 1976 following the bombing of a Cubana airliner that left 73 people dead.
He fled prison in 1985.
Recently declassified US documents show that Posada Carriles had worked for the CIA at least from 1965 until June 1976, and he reportedly helped the US government ferry supplies to "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua.
He also has been accused of taking part in numerous plots to kill Castro, including one to assassinate the Cuban leader during an Ibero-American summit in Panama in 2000.
"Your expertise in assuming false identities, your disregard of immigration laws of the United States, your history of escape and the presence of your pending extradition request demonstrate that you pose a significant risk of fleeing if released from custody," the ICE letter said.
"Further, you have shown a cavalier attitude toward the impact your actions have had on the safety and well-being of persons and property," it said.
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000011/001115.htm
Luis Posada denied release: Venezuela renews calls for extradition
Washington March 23: The US government will not free Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who has been detained in a federal immigration facility since May, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The government's decision was made public on Wednesday, about a week shy of a 180-day deadline for deciding his custody status.
Immediately afterwards, the Venezuelan givernemtn issues a statement reiterating its demand that Posada be extradited to Caracas to face trial there for the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed 73 innocent passengers.
Posada is wanted by both the Cuban and Venezuelan governments for the 1976 bombing and a string of hotel bombings in Havana in 1997-98.
He was detained in Miami by federal authorities last May after sneaking into the United States.
"Following a routine custody review, as required by regulation, ICE has issued Mr. Posada an Interim Decision to Continue Detention," ICE said in a written statement.
``This letter advises Mr. Posada that his custody status has been reviewed, and it has been determined that he will not be released from the custody of ICE at this time. This interim decision is based on a review of Mr. Posada's case and consideration of the information Mr. Posada and his attorney submitted to ICE's reviewing officials."
Posada's lawyer, Eduardo Soto, told the Herald late last week that he planned to appeal -- through a writ of habeas corpus -- if the government decided not to free his client.
ICE left open the possibility that Posada could be freed at a later date and reiterated its intention to try to deport him to a country that is not Venezuela or Cuba.
"As appropriate, ICE will continue to review Mr. Posada's custody in light of any additional information that he may submit, collateral developments, and efforts to remove him to other countries," the statement noted. ``ICE continues to move forward to carry out Mr. Posada's removal from the United States. While an immigration judge granted Mr. Posada deferral of removal to Cuba and Venezuela based on the Convention Against Torture (CAT), that does not impede ICE from removing Mr. Posada to a third country."
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14160819.htm
Statement from Venezuela accuses US of deliberately evading responsibiity
EMBASSY OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA
WASHINGTON, D.C.
STATEMENT
March 22, 2006
Today’s announcement by Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency (ICE) stands in marked contrast to the sound of the Department of State’s silence on Venezuela’s request for Posada Carriles? extradition. We again call on the White House to honor its international treaty obligations and either extradite or prosecute Luis Posada Carriles for 73 counts of first degree murder. A war on terrorism ought not be fought in an a la carte fashion. There is no such thing as a friendly terrorist. All terrorists are enemies of justice. None deserve impunity.
Rather than extraditing him to Venezuela to stand trial for 73 counts of first degree murder, the United States Government continues to shelter the international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles under the guise of immigration proceedings. Today’s announcement by ICE that Posada Carriles will continue in its custody for the time being is nothing more than an attempt to divert public attention from the real issue: that for the past nine months the United States Government has ignored the extradition request filed on June 15, 2005 with the Department of State.
Luis Posada Carriles is the Osama Bin Laden of Latin America. He is responsible for one of the bloodiest attacks on a civilian airliner in the annals of civil aviation. In 1976, he blew up a passenger plane with 73 innocent persons on board including a pregnant woman.
After Venezuela requested Posada Carriles? extradition, the State Department waited almost six months to send our Embassy a Diplomatic Note on November 9, 2005 to inform us that it would “soon” be forwarding specific questions and concerns about the case. “Soon” has yet to arrive, and on March 13, 2006 our Embassy filed the latest of several Diplomatic Notes to the State Department requesting that it instruct the Department of Justice to present Posada?s extradition case to a federal court and execute an extradition detainer on the terrorist.
It is cynical to use immigration regulations to give the appearance of justice in a case that calls out for extradition or criminal prosecution, particularly in a case in which the families of the 73 victims call out for the extradition or prosecution of this criminal.
Posada Carriles' trial is a farce, says Alarcon
HAVANA, Jan 30 (Prensa Latina) - The President of the People's Power Assembly (Parliament), Ricardo Alarcon, considered the process against the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in the USA a farse.
During an interview with PL, Alarcon analyzed the US government's role in the case of Posada who confessed being the author of the destruction of an airborne Cubana flight airplane in 1976 killing 73 persons and responsible for other bombings.
He is a person who boasted about his terrorist actions in US media and when denying sending him to Venezuela, Washington is sabotaging the bilateral extradition treaty and the Montreal Agreement on illegal acts against civil aviation, said Alarcon.
President George W. Bush?s administration, by assuming this position, is also breaking the 1373 resolution of the UN Security Council, adopted by the USA.
The resolution, approved in the wake of 9-11, prohibits any kind of political justification to deny the extradition of alleged terrorists.
That is the only way to have that kind of crimes punished, but Washington is blocking the way to justice since it is protecting Posada, just as it did with Orlando Bosch, another terrorist, said the Parliament's President.
Recent declassified official documents include CIA, FBI and State Department reports confirming Posada?s and Bosch?s participation in the Cubana flight attack.
In the papers was found a message from the US ambassador in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, a day after the crime, in which he stated the implication of both terrorists in the action and announced his intention of trying to get them out of Venezuela to avoid justice.
This is only explained by the deep relationship between the US government and terrorists and as it may be disclosed in a trial, the trial is avoided.
In his autobiography Posada tells about his crimes and and his origins in the CIA, where he was taught how to kill and trained, said Alarcon
According to Alarcon, Bush cannot act correctly in this case since he is stained by his collaboration and relations with assassins as part of his historical plans to attack Cuba.
http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/news/Cuba/060130323.htm
