Cuban Can't Be Sent to Cuba or Venezuela (Posada)

[IChing]

Wednesday September 28, 2005 2:01 AM


By ALICIA A. CALDWELL

Associated Press Writer

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A Cuban militant accused of plotting a 1976 jetliner bombing that killed 73 people cannot be deported to Venezuela, an immigration judge has ruled.

Luis Posada Carriles, who has denied that he planned the bombing, claims he would be tortured if sent to Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen and once served as a CIA operative.

In a written ruling Monday, Judge William L. Abbott cited conventions against extradition to a country if a person were likely to face torture there.

Venezuelan officials have said Posada was in Caracas when he planned the bombing and have asked the State Department for his extradition. They say there is no evidence their government would torture him.

``Rather than proceeding with the extradition of this self-confessed terrorist to stand trial for murder in Caracas, the U.S. government has instead turned the case into a minor immigration matter,'' the Venezuelan embassy said in a statement.>>>>snip

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5306895,00.html

[Webster Green]

1. US harboring terrorists!

Birds of a feather...

[mike_c]

2. well it's different when it's about terrorists who serve U.S. interests...

:puke:

[punpirate]

3. Rather odd, since we've been...

... doing that ourselves lately... sending people off to be tortured, that is.... *sigh*

[1932]

4. Outrageous.

The reason this happened was because the lawyers representing the US didn't present evidence to contradict the defense's claim that he would face torture in Venezuela. Without any evidence to the contrary, the judge has to accept the evidence of the defendant.

Posada may be a terrorist, but he's our terrorist!

[raggedcompany]

5. This is a big story.

Chavez won't let this one go.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Posada is a Venezuelan citizen... this means that this story has big holes

Posada is not a Cuban, and therefore cannot be described as a Cuban militant. Posada is a terrorist, trained and paid for by the US government.

I don't want to ever hear an American official complain about terrorism anywhere! The US protection of Posada makes America a terrorist state!

[Say_What]

7. US credibility = 0. War on terror put on hold for favorite US terrorists

Posada soon to join many more terrorists in Miami who walk the street free. Much more info about the Bushies terrorists at this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1807809


Bosch-Avila: Posada's co-conspirator and terrorist who Poppy Bush pardoned after 30 countries had refused him because of his terrorist record.

[Mika]

8. Judge: Posada to stay in U.S. (will not be deported to Venezuela)

Judge: Posada to stay in U.S.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12758164.htm

Posada will remain in indefinite detention in El Paso while his lawyers and supporters mount a legal and political campaign to free him.

Immigration judge William Abbott ruled that Posada will not be deported to Venezuela because Abbott believes Venezuela would likely torture him -- a claim Venezuela has vehemently denied.

In a ruling released Tuesday, Abbott granted Posada deferral from deportation under the Convention Against Torture act, which prohibits the United States from deporting someone to a country where they could be tortured.

-

The judge hinged his decision on testimony from Posada and Venezuelan lawyer Joaquin Chaffardet, an old friend of Posada's who told Abbott that Venezuela would surely torture Posada. Abbott also took into account Venezuela's relationship with Cuba.

-

Even after the judge stated that Posada and his lawyers had presented a strong case for him to be granted deferral, DHS did not call any witnesses against him.

[htuttle]

9. The US is a Terrorist-Harboring, Treaty Breaking Rogue State

Has been for a long time, but now it's official.

[Mika]

11. But we do deport our prisoners to be "rendered" in other countries.

Hypocrisy on so many levels it is astonishing.

[gulfcoastliberal]

18. Precisely.

Pot, kettle, black. Not that I believe Venezuela would torture him - they'd just extradite him to Cuba, where I'm sure he be treated better than the US held prisoners on Guantanamo.

[tonkatoy57]

10. Well, you know what they say

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

These people make me sick. This is emblematic of all of the double standard bullshit that comes out of this administration. Here's a guy who is a known terrorist, who blew up a fucking airliner for God's sake and, oh no, we couldn't possibly extradite him to Venezuela because he might be tortured. Who do they think they're kidding. This administration is worried about another government torturing someone? Hey assholes, does the word rendition ring any bells?

[tainowarrior]

12. on what evidence

is the Judge basing his "torture" claims.

Furthermore, on what grounds does he stand to condemn another nation of torture when the U.S. has Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

Protecting a Terrorist...SIMPLE.

[K-W]

13. Unchallenged claims made by an associate of Posada.

Neither side on this case wanted Posada to be deported. It was a show trial.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Just what you'd expect from Bush's puppet judge.Doing what he needs to do.

What a filthy shame. NOT done in our name. Not in the name of justice. They should have conducted this trial at midnight, in utter darkness. It doesn't resemble the working of a healthy honorable goverment.

Information for anyone who hasn't been familiar with many of the details of Posada. I need to add two things not mentioned. Posada was caught working to bomb Castro in Panama at a time he would be addressing a LARGE auditorium full of people. If they had gotten Cuba's President Castro there, they would have also gotten God knows how many others at the same time.

Also, the Panamanian President who pardoned him did it only a week before her term was up, so she could slip away and not have to face the music at home, and she called people she knew in the Cuban "exile" community in Miami to tell them he was sprung. There is a record somewhere of what her message was to her friends in Miami, where she also lived in earlier days.

On April 12 Luis Posada Carriles, the notorious anti-Cuba terrorist and killer, appealed for asylum in the United States through his attorneys in Miami. The planner of terrorist acts that have killed dozens of Cubans and other people, Posada was in hiding in Central America for the last seven months after being prematurely released from jail by Panama’s right-wing puppet president Mireya Moscoso at the behest of the Bush administration.

Posada was convicted in Panama after being caught in November 2000 with 33 pounds of C-4 explosives intended for assassinating Cuban President Fidel Castro. Now, the U.S. government is entertaining inviting this man, who poses such a great and vicious danger, to receive safe haven from prosecution in the United States.

Undoubtedly assisted by the U.S. government to enter the United States, Posada has been in Miami since the end of March. His three other conspirators, Pedro Remón, Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo and Guillermo Novo Sampol, were also pardoned in Panama and flew into Miami last August. They are implicated in several murders in the United States, including the 1976 Washington DC car-bombing that killed Chilean Orlando Letelier and American Ronnie Moffitt.
(snip)

While in Venezuela in the 1970s, Posada oversaw the killing of Venezuelan leftists as head of the Intelligence and Prevention Services Division (DISIP) of the national police. In the 1980s Posada commanded the supply of munitions to the Nicaraguan contras from the CIA’s Ilopango airbase in El Salvador.

Today, the presence of Posada, Bosch and other terrorists in Miami is proof that the U.S. government is fully behind the terror attacks on Cuba.
(snip/...)

http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=6073



Panamanian _Bush puppet President Mireya Moscoso
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_3018000/3018472.stm

Venezuelan Resolution Regarding Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles
Dennis Kucinich speaking from the Floor of the House

Link to this entry in the Congressional Record
June 15, 2005

"Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit the following for the Congressional Record. On Wednesday, June 15, 2005, Representative Dennis Kucinich met with legislators from Venezuela who presented him with a resolution that passed in the Venezuelan legislative assembly regarding the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.

"The following is a translation of that resolution:"

Non Official Translation

The National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela -- Resolution Expressing Support for the Decision of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice Requesting the Extradition of Luis Posada Carriles

CONSIDERING

That on October 6, 1976, a Cubana de Aviacion airplane was victim of an abominable terrorist act over the island of Barbados, exploding in mid-air and resulting in the death of its passengers and crew;

CONSIDERING

That among the victims were 57 Cuban nationals, 24 of which were members of the Cuban National Fencing Team who had recently emerged victorious in the Fencing Championships of Central America and the Caribbean, held in Caracas, Venezuela; alongside 11 Guyanese students and 5 Korean students;

CONSIDERING

That material responsibility for the condemnable terrorist act was linked to Venezuelan nationals Heman Ricardo and Freddy Lugo, and that a consequent investigation determined that the sinister plan was hatched in Caracas, under the direction of Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-

Venezuelan, who from 1967 served in an official capacity in various police forces, including as the Chief of the Explosives Brigade of the Division of Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP), known by the alias ‘Commissar Basilio;’
(snip/...)

http://www.kucinich.us/floor_speeches/intl_posada_res15jun.php

[Mika]

15. Ileanna Ros Lehtinen's next campaign slogan: "Free Luis Posada!"

Just like her first campaign slogan, that got her elected representing Miami-Dade; "Free Orlando Bosch!" (Not kidding it really was.)

[Judi Lynn]

17. That's an ugly thought, Mika. How can they live with themselves?

Terror is terror, whether it's in London or Cuba

Miami Herald
July 10, 2005

Terror is terror, whether it's in London or Cuba JIM DeFEDE
[e-mail]

Bodies were still being pulled from the wreckage Thursday when U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen issued a statement condemning what she called the ''barbaric'' terrorist attack in London.

''The targeting of innocent lives is insidious and shows the utter disrespect that perpetrators of terror have for humanity,'' the Miami Republican declared. ``Those who committed this callous act must know that our determination to neutralize terrorism is unshaken and that we will not yield in the face of such perfidy.''

Strong words.

But where was the congresswoman's outrage when she came to the defense of Luis Posada Carriles, a man who bragged about masterminding a series of hotel bombings in Havana that killed an Italian tourist? A man suspected of blowing up a Cuban airliner?

Where was her desire to ''neutralize terrorism'' when she pleaded two years ago with the president of Panama to release Pedro Remón, Guillermo Novo and Gaspar Jiménez? Those men, along with Posada, were convicted in Panama of endangering public safety, a charge stemming from an alleged plot to blow up a university center where Fidel Castro was scheduled to visit.

Ros-Lehtinen, along with fellow Reps. Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart, quietly wrote to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso asking that she pardon the four men. And in one of her last acts before leaving office, Moscoso did just that.
(snip)

Ros-Lehtinen is currently vying to become the next chair of the House International Relations Committee, which would make her one of the leading voices in Congress on matters of foreign policy and the worldwide fight against terrorism.
(snip/...)

http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/cuba/3245.html



Ros-Lehtinen with both Cuban Reps. Mario & Lincoln Diaz Balart, and FIU official, and Ros-Lehtinen with Republican Ks. Senator Sam Brownback, and at Florida Scientologists' event.

[0007]

19. Orlando Bosch is a bigger fish than Luis Posada. And Posada is

a dirty rotten murderer.



Orlando Bosch’s terrorist curriculum vitae

• To refresh Otto Reich’s memory

Few terrorists in history have achieved as high a level of criminal activity as Orlando Bosch.

In 1968, his fame was so great that, while under arrest for a bazooka attack on a Polish freighter, the city of Miami proclaimed Orlando Bosch Day, in support of that "exemplary" anti-Castro fighter. The pace of the attacks he carried out consisted of a campaign of terror aimed at scaring the Miami community, and raising money for "the cause" – including, of course, the terrorist leader’s bank account.

Unfortunately, his fellow Miami Cuban Otto Reich, now the White House’s top man in Latin America – who helped Bosch escape from Venezuelan justice and find refuge in the United States – seems to have lost his memory. He declared at a Senate hearing, with apparent candidness, that he was unaware of his friend Orlando Bosch’s terrorist past.

That declaration notwithstanding, dozens and dozens of terrorist attacks are attributed to Orlando Bosch and the gangs he led. Perhaps this "black list" will refresh the memory of George W. Bush’s close collaborator.

January 8, 1968: A bomb explodes in a suitcase in Havana

January 25, 1968: Bombs placed in various commercial establishments in the United States

February 1, 1968: Mexican Consulate in Miami bombed

February 2, 1968: Bomb placed in British consul’s house in Miami

March 12, 1968: Bomb placed in restaurant belonging to Cuban immigrants in the United States

March 13, 1968: Bomb placed in Chilean Consulate in the United States

April 2, 1968: Bomb placed in pharmaceutical company in United States

April 22, 1968: Bomb placed in Mexican Consulate, United States

April 22, 1968: Bomb placed in Spanish Tourism Office in the United States

May 5, 1968: British ship Greenwood bombed in the United States

May 25, 1968: Bomb placed aboard the Japanese ship Aroka Maru in the United States

June 21, 1968: Bomb placed in Spanish Tourism Office in the United States

June 23, 1968: Bomb placed in Mexican Tourism Office in the United States

June 27, 1968: Bomb explodes in the garage of Mexican consul to the United States

July 4, 1968: Bomb placed in Cuban Consulate in Canada

July 4, 1968: Bomb placed in Canadian Tourism Office in United States

July 7, 1968: Bomb placed in Japanese Tourism Office in the United States

July 11, 1968: Bomb explodes near Cuban Mission to the UN, causing damage to the Yugoslavian mission

July 11, 1968: Bomb placed aboard the Japanese ship Michagesan Maru in Mexico

July 14, 1968: Bomb placed in Mexican Tourism Office in the United States

July 15, 1968: Bomb discovered in a French government office in the United States

July 16, 1968: Bomb discovered in the Mexican Consulate, United States

July 17, 1968: Bomb placed in Cuban diplomat’s home in the United States

July 19, 1968: Bomb placed in French Tourism Office in the United States

July 19, 1968: Bomb placed in Shell Petroleum Company building in England

July 19, 1968: Bomb placed in Japanese travel agency in the United States

July 26, 1968: Bomb placed in Mexican Tourism Office in the United States

July 31, 1968: Bomb placed in British Consulate in United States

August 3, 1968: Bomb placed in British bank in the United States

August 5, 1968: Bomb placed in offices of the Communist Party in the United States

August 7, 1968: Bomb placed aboard the Bahamas ship Caribbean Venture in the United States

August 9, 1968: Mexican representatives in the United States bombed

August 9, 1968: Bomb placed in Mexican consul’s home in Miami

September 11, 1968: Bomb placed aboard British ship in Mexico

September 16, 1968: Bomb explodes aboard the Spanish ship Satrustegui in Puerto Rico

September 16, 1968: Bazooka attack on Polish ship in Miami

September 17, 1968: Bomb placed aboard Mexican airplane in United States

September 19, 1968: Bomb placed in home of Mexican consul to the United States

October 18, 1968: Bomb placed in Canadian travel agency

October 20, 1968: Gas bomb placed in a theater where a Cuban actress was performing

October 24, 1968: Attempts to assassinate Cuban ambassador to the UN

July 26, 1969: Bomb placed in Mexican Tourism Office in the United States

August 6, 1969: Bomb placed in British-owned Shell Oil offices in the United States

August 6, 1969: Bomb placed in Air France offices in the United States

In 1972, Bosch traveled to Chile with his friend Guillermo Novo Sampol and puts himself at the disposal of General Augusto Pinochet’s fascist junta. He subsequently participated in a series of attacks on prominent Chileans in exile.

In 1974, Bosch created the terrorist organization called Cuban Action, with the support of the Chilean junta and Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza’s secret police.

January 21, 1974: Bomb placed in Cuban diplomatic office in Canada

January 21, 1974: Bomb placed in Cuban diplomatic office in Argentina

January 21, 1974: Bomb placed in Cuban diplomatic office in Peru

January 21, 1974: Bomb placed in Cuban embassy in Mexico

February 13, 1974: Bomb placed in Cuban embassy in Madrid

April 4, 1974: Prensa Latina representatives bombed in Mexico

October 1, 1974: Bomb placed in Panamanian embassy in Caracas

October 30, 1974: Bomb placed in Venezuelan-Cuban Friendship Institute in Venezuela

November 11, 1974: Bomb placed in hotel where Cuban officials were staying in the United States

March 19, 1974: Assassination of General Carlos Prats, former officer of the Chilean Armed Forces, and his wife, in Argentina

May 10, 1975: Attempt in Rome to kill Bernardo Leighton, vice president of the Chilean Democratic Party in exile, and his wife

July 1975: Shots fired on the resident of a Cuban official in the United States

August 3, 1975: Assassination attempt on Cuban Ambassador Emilio Aragonés, in Argentina

November 17, 1975: Bomb placed in Venezuelan tourism company, in Venezuela

November 30, 1975: Bomb placed in USSR commercial office in Mexico

March 1976: Bosch is arrested by Costa Rican police for suspicion of trying to assassinate exiled Chilean leader Andrés Pascal Allende

September 21, 1976: Assassination of Orlando Letelier, former Chilean ambassador to the United States, and his secretary Ronnie Moffitt

In 1976, Bosch founded the Command of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), most of whose members had worked for the CIA. He ordered another series of attacks.

June 6, 1976: Bomb placed in Cuban diplomatic mission at the UN

July 1, 1976: Bomb placed in Cuban-Costa Rican cultural center in Costa Rica

July 8, 1976: Bomb placed in Cuban mission in Spain

September 7, 1976: Bomb placed in Cubana de Aviación warehouse in Kingston, Jamaica

July 10, 1976: Bomb placed in Cubana de Aviación office in Barbados

July 11, 1976: Bomb placed in Air Panama offices in Colombia

July 23, 1976: Attempt to kidnap Cuban consul in Mérida, Mexico, resulting in the death of Cuban fishing technician D’Artagnan Díaz Díaz

September 8, 1976: Kidnapping of two Cuban diplomats in Argentina

September 9, 1976: Bomb placed in Guyanese embassy in Trinidad and Tobago

September 18, 1976: Bomb placed in Cubana de Aviación office in Panama

October 6, 1976: Mid-flight explosion of a Cubana de Aviación passenger plane, causing the deaths of all 73 persons on board

As a result of the plane bombing, Bosch was arrested in Venezuela and accused of masterminding the horrible crime. Nevertheless, from his cell he continued to dream up and order other attacks, against Venezuelan targets, in order to pressure the Venezuelan justice system to let him go.

March 30, 1977: Bomb placed in Venezuelan Consulate in Puerto Rico

August 30, 1977: Bomb placed aboard a Venezuelan airplane in Miami

December 23, 1977: Bomb placed in Viasa airline office, United States

December 30, 1977: Bomb placed in Venezuelan Consulate in Puerto Rico

In 1978, also from his cell, he ordered attacks on Mexican interests, in response to the measures taken by that government following the death of Cuban fishing technician D’Artagnan Díaz Díaz.

February 7, 1978: Bomb placed in Mexican Consulate in the United States

February 7, 1978: Bomb placed aboard the Mexican ship Azteca, resulting in two deaths and seven injuries

Later, still from his cell, he directed and maintained the actions of Omega-7, consisting of a long chain of terrorist attacks.

September 9, 1978: Bomb placed in Cuban mission at the UN

October 5, 1978: Bomb placed across from Madison Square Garden, where Cuban boxers were supposed to fight

October 6, 1978: Bomb placed in offices of Girasol tourism company, belonging to the Socialist Party of Puerto Rico

October 6, 1978: Bomb placed in offices of Antillana tourism company of Puerto Rico

October 6, 1978: Bomb placed in offices of the Record Public Service company, owned by a Cuban immigrant in Puerto Rico

October 23, 1978: Bomb placed in La Prensa newspaper in the United States

November 18, 1978: Bomb threats made against TWA, due to its flights to Cuba

December 28, 1978: Bomb placed in office of Varadero Travel in Puerto Rico

December 29, 1978: Bomb placed in Cuban mission at the UN

December 29, 1978: Bomb placed in Lincoln Center, New York

March 26, 1979: Bomb placed in TWA offices at New York’s JFK Airport

March 26, 1979: Bomb placed in office of Weehawken company of New Jersey, headed by Cuban Eulalio J. Negrín, a member of the Committee of 75, which was negotiating with Cuba

April 4, 1979: Murder of Carlos Muñoz Varela, member of the Antonio Maceo Brigade and director of Varadero Travel in Puerto Rico

November 25, 1979: Eulalio J. Negrín murdered

September 11, 1980: Murder of Félix García Rodríguez, Cuban diplomat to the United Nations

In 1987, thanks to Otto Reich, Bosch was freed and entered the United States, where he was granted asylum and even a presidential pardon.

By the start of the 1980s, the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) was in existence, and its leader, Jorge Mas Canosa, directed counterrevolutionary and terrorist attacks.

Once he took refuge in the United States, Bosch continued advising the most fanatical elements of the Miami mafia. Even within the terrorist gang directed by Luis Posada Carriles that planned to assassinate Fidel Castro in Panama, there are several of the old terrorist’s friends. Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, Pedro Remón and Guillermo Novo Sampol were guilty of numerous terrorist actions against Cuba and other countries, among them the machine-gunning of Félix García Rodríguez in New York; the killing of Cuban fishing technician D’Artagnan Díaz Díaz by terrorist Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo; and the kidnapping of two diplomats in Argentina.

What a bad memory Mr. Reich has, after so many years of collaboration with the CIA and the CANF!

[Judi Lynn]

20. That's quite a bomber/mass murder's pedigree, isn't it?

I had forgotten he was part of the assassination of the Cuban ambassador to the U.N. in the streets of New York.

It points out one good thing: most of these people, businesses, government offices, airlines, etc. have damned good security which allowed them to find the bombs before they went off. The plan was to have killed far more, obviously.

Orlando Bosch has been busy. Thanks so much for posting that list. (I'll bet there are bombings he did which weren't even included!)

[0007]

21. I'm sure the Orlando's rap sheet is not complete.

[cantstandbush]

16. So, people who only "suspected" of crimes can be "rendered" to other

countries, but people who are actually guilty of murder and terrorist acts can't be deported.