Apr 11
Farcical, hypocritical and an outrageous case of double standards are some of the ways of characterising the trial of Luis Posada Carilles in a Texas court on charges of lying to U.S. immigration authorities, which ended last week with his acquittal. Posada was not tried for terrorism, in spite of the overwhelming evidence that connects him to the bombing of a Cubana airlines jet off the coast of Barbados in October 1976 that took the lives of 73, people; and his later involvement in the bombing of a Havana hotel that killed an Italian tourist. The dossier published by the National Security Archive in Washington, D.C., with declassified FBI documents and afffdavits by officers of the Trinidad and Tobago police force, makes compelling reading.
WHEN IS A TERRORIST NOT CONSIDERED A TERRORIST?
WHEN HE IS A BRUTAL ANTI-CUBA CRIMINAL WHO BLOWS UP CIVILIAN AIRLINERS AND IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES!
IT MUST NOT PASS!
The Canadian Network On Cuba (CNC) vigorously denounces the grotesque acquittal of the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles on charges of perjury and immigration fraud in El Paso, Texas.
Posada Carriles was acquitted of lying about his terrorist past. This verdict not only flies in the face of overwhelming evidence, but also aims to legitimize the more than 50-years of U.S. aggression against Cuba.
Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 Washington has waged an unceasing assault, both military and economic, against the Cuban people, organizing an invasion, assassinations, terrorist attacks against civilians and systematic economic sabotage.
Posada Carriles has been an integral part of this war against Cuba.
Declassified CIA and FBI documents minutely detail the guilt of Posada Carriles, along with others given safe haven in the U.S. These documents also clearly establish Washington’s complicity and guiding hand in these crimes.
Posada Carriles organized dozens of terrorist acts. It is a terrorist history that extends over five decades.
They include the 1976 bombing of a civilian Cuban airliner that claimed the lives of 73 people and the 1997 Havana hotel bombings, which claimed the life of Fabio Di Celmo, a young Montrealer of Italian origin. Posada Carriles is also implicated in several terrorist attacks in the cities of Montreal and Ottawa in the 1960′s and 1970′s. Moreover, as a central figure in the CIA’s Operation Condor, he was an active participant in numerous crimes, terrorist acts and massive violations of human rights throughout Latin America.
The CNC vigorously condemns the travesty of justice that allows Luis Posada Carriles to walk free. The CNC calls on the Canadian government to take a principled stand and request the US government to fulfill its obligations under international law. Canada should not only defend its own victims of Posada Carriles’ acts such as Fabio Di Celmo, but also see that the U.S. upholds Venezuela’s extradition request so that he can be held to account in that country for the many crimes and terrorist acts he committed there.
When it comes to terrorism, the CNC does not accept double standards. One man’s terrorist IS NOT another man’s freedom fighter. Posada Carriles is a terrorist and he should be brought to justice.
The attitude of the United States is totally self-serving and immoral. How can well-established illegal acts be declared legal by a Texas Court? It is self-serving activity, which also causes damage to the safety and security of all, besides undermining the international rule of law and the rule of law within the United States itself.
The CNC clearly states that despite this unacceptable decision, it is convinced justice will prevail in the end. Humanity does not accept a state of affairs where well-established criminals and depraved individuals such as Posada Carriles can walk free, while those who defend their people from terrorist attacks such as the five Cuban heroes are held in U.S. prisons convicted on trumped up charges.
Condemn Posada Carriles!
Free the Cuban Five Political Prisoners Held in U.S. Jails!
Justice Will Prevail!
On behalf of the Canadian Network On Cuba
Isaac Saney
Co-chair & National Spokesperson
Email: isaney@hotmail.com
Tel.: 902-449-4967
Posada, American justice and agreements
The recent concluded trial of Posada Carriles has left a mark, a negative mark, on our country. One that cannot be reversed unless in the near future the United States will abide by international agreements that it has executed in the past.
To many of us, the trial has been nothing more than a simple case of negligence on the part of the government to “protect” a criminal by not presenting all of the available evidence and handling what was available in a very negligent fashion.
Posada Carriles is and has been a terrorist. It makes no difference the cause. He admitted to it. He bragged about it and he was sentenced for some of his actions, once in Venezuela and further in Panama, both times basically walking away without paying society, the latter having been seen as a “pay for services rendered” to the former president of Panama prior to her departure from office and “relocation” to Miami, Florida.
The blowing-up of a commercial aircraft, or any aircraft for that matter, without a declaration of war properly sanctioned by international bodies, is a crime beyond comprehension and that is what Posada Carriles did to the Cubana flight with children, many children on-board in the 70s.
Where is the shame which was shown by the entire world for what Libya did to the Pan Am flight? Where is the outrage which was shown by the people of the United States when the so called Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down after departing Cuba on an illegal flight in 1996, after Cuba had protested some thirteen illegal flights over its territory to the State Department and/or FAA with no action on their part? Was there no shame in this terrorist act? Were the lives of my Cuban brothers and sisters of no value?
No, Posada Carriles seems to have been “protected” but if we are a nation of laws he must be turned-over to Venezuela under our extradition agreements and Venezuela then should go forward with the trial of this monster once and for all.
Jose A. Gonzalez Guardado
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
EEUU
Published on April 12, 2011 by Caribbean News Now