U.S., Cuba tangle at U.N. over alleged plane bomber

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S., Cuba tangle at U.N. over alleged plane bomber

By Patrick Worsnip
Tue May 22, 7:41 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Cuba and Venezuela clashed with
the United States in the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday over
the release this month by a U.S. judge of an anti-Castro
militant wanted for bomb attacks against Cuba.

Cuban charge d'affaires Ileana Nunez Mordoche accused
Washington of a bid to conceal details of Luis Posada Carriles'
CIA past by permitting his May 8 release after the judge in
El Paso, Texas, dismissed immigration fraud charges against
him.

-snip-

Nunez Mordoche accused the United States of double standards
on terrorism. "It is impossible to eliminate terrorism if some
terrorist acts are condemned while others are silenced, tolerated
or justified," she said.

She urged the Security Council to "take all the necessary steps"
but did not elaborate.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad replied that the decision to
free Posada Carriles had been made by an independent judiciary.
"The United States is currently reviewing that decision and its
options for challenging it," he said.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070522/wl_nm/cuba_usa_posada_dc_2

[jmcauliff]

1. State Tolerated Terrorism

It is time for the US to extradite Posada to Venezuela. We have no reason to think that he will face a less fair trial or worse prison conditions there than the five Cubans tried in Florida and jailed here.

Or maybe it is finally the moment to acknowledge that the US and Cuba must put the past behind them, retire self-righteous rhetoric, exchange/free prisoners, table extraditing demands, expand trade beyond agricultural sales and normalize relations.

The place to begin is by passage of HR 654 (Rangel/Flake, 111 cosponsors) and S 721 (Enzi/Dorgan, 21 cosponsors) which will end all travel restrictions and open the door to serious cross border conversations. Of the Democratic candidates from the Senate, all (Biden, Clinton, Dodd and Obama) have previously supported ending travel restrictions.

To date, however, they are either silent or backsliding (Clinton), presumably because of their out-of- date concern for the votes and money of hard line exiles in south Florida. It is time for our candidates to consider the opinions of 2/3 of Americans (including 55% of Cuban Americans) as well as the US reputation in the world and its real economic and strategic interests.

[Eugene]

2. Thanks for posting this.

...and welcome to DU! :hi: