Govt.: Keep Cuban Militant Locked Up

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 13, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal judge in Texas to keep an anti-Castro Cuban militant locked up. In court documents, the government argued that Luis Posada Carilles, 78, should not be released until a country can be found that will take him and the Department of Homeland Security determines whether his release will harm U.S. foreign policy interests.

Justice Department lawyers say Posada has failed to follow through on promises to seek asylum in El Salvador, Honduras and Panama, and should continue to be held in a federal immigration jail in El Paso, Texas.

Posada, a former CIA operative and a longtime opponent of Cuban President Fidel Castro, has been in U.S. custody since he was arrested in May 2005 on immigration charges in Miami.

When U.S. officials reported in September that a third country was unwilling to take Posada, U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney concluded that he should be released.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-cuban-militant,0,3064618.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[Judi Lynn]

1. Some right-wing Batista supporters in Miami aren't going to take this well

Can't wait to see the backlash. I'll bet it killed _Bush to have to finally DO something about this. Apparently he couldn't figure a way around turning him loose again without hacking off the sane Ameriacans who know something about it.

You've probably noticed the crimes of these murderer/terrorists are given almost NO attention here. There's a right-wing reason for that. They love them. Where ELSE would they have enlisted the Watergate plumbers?

[ruiner4u]

2. funny bush doctrine huh? n/t

[w4rma]

8. Why? He's only being "locked up" until Bush can release him to a

nation that will allow him to run free. After which he'll just don a disguise and switch identities and go anywhere and do anything he pleases. There are at least two nations that will take him. But they will throw him in prison for his part in the terrorist bombing(s).

[HuffleClaw]

3. "anti-Castro Cuban militant"

erm, or 'convicted TERRORIST'. what a disgrace. harboring terrorists because BUSH doesn't like chavez.

[peacetalksforall]

4. I caught that. Militant - sounds so mild. He's a TERRORIST - a

home grown terrorist - CIA operative - Mr Macho Man.

[Judi Lynn]

5. This story needs to be heard by far more Americans.

The New York Times had an interview with this cretin by Ann Louise Bardach in the late 1990's, and there has been a story or two elsewhere, but it's most likely he and others like him (outside the Watergate burglars and the assassins of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his American assistant in broad daylight in Washington D.C. and the Cuban U.N. ambassador on the streets of New York) are NEVER mentioned to the large, non-reading tv audiences who only get their news through tv and radio.

On edit: Here's the terrifying fate :eyes: of two of the Cuban assassins who blew up Mr. Letelier and his secretary, Mrs. Moffit, and injured her husband:

Both CORU terrorists Ignacio and Guillermo Novo Sampol were indicted, convicted and sent to prison for their part in the assassination of Orlando Letelier, but eventually their CIA sponsored lawyers came to their rescue and managed to overturn their conviction on appeal.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=124272

Also on edit: you may find this quote, from the official manual used for the war against the Sandanistas interesting: ....The target groups for the Armed Propaganda Teams are not the persons with sophisticated political knowledge, but rather those whose opinions are formed from what they see and hear...."
Also from: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=124272

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Testing the Definition of "Terrorism": Luis Posada Carriles and the U.S.
by Jeremy R. Hammond
October 11, 2006

Oct. 6 -- Thirty years ago today, a bomb exploded on a Cubana Airlines plane over the Caribbean Sea, resulting in the death of all 73 passengers on board. The anniversary of this terrorist attack "coincides with a critical juncture in the case of Luis Posada Carriles," the Washington Post explains. Posada is wanted by both Cuba and Venezuela on charges of terrorism for his alleged role in the bombing. He is also suspected of involvement in a series of hotel bombings in Havana, Cuba, in 1997.

Posada, who was "trained by the CIA, along with other Cuban exiles, for the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961," re-entered the United States in March 2005, and was arrested in May of that year on immigration charges. He does not deny involvement in acts of terrorism. Rather, in a statement released by his attorney, he simply declares that that is all in the past. "The Cuban government," the statement read, "is in a very deteriorated condition, inexorably reaching its end, and I sincerely believe that nothing would help to go back to the past with sabotage campaigns." Earlier this year, Posada said that the Cubana flight was a "legitimate target." A field officer at the Department of Homeland Security interviewed by the Post noted his "propensity to engage in terrorist activities."

As the Post also notes, "Much of the evidence against Posada Carriles has been drawn from the U.S. government's own files, including declassified FBI and CIA documents." Shortly after attending a meeting in 1976 with Orlando Bosch, the other prime suspect in the Cubana bombing, Posada , according to a CIA report, said, "We are going to hit a Cuban airplane. Orlando has the details." The Post article concludes by saying,

Declassified documents state that the two men who placed the bomb on the Cubana flight worked for Posada Carriles. After getting off the plane in Barbados, one of the men called his girlfriend, who was also a Posada Carriles employee, and delivered a coded message to report the attack was successful. The message: "The bus was fully loaded with dogs."<1>
(snip/...)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=11162

[acmavm]

6. "The bus was fully loaded with dogs."

That remark alone should get everyone connected with this terrorist act life in a dark, damp, cold cell.

It wasn't government officials they murdered. It was innocent civilians.

[rman]

7. Cuba and Venezuela have been wanting him for decades

...but not to offer him asylum.

It is quite telling that a known terrorist captive in the US must be released to a country that will offer him asylum, in order not to harm U.S. foreign policy interests.


Democracy Now
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
Twilight of the Assassins: Why the U.S. Refuses to Prosecute the Cuban Exiles Luis Posada Carriles & Orlando Bosch For the 1976 Bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/10/1355231

It was the first act of airline terrorism in the Americas: thirty years ago on October 6, 1976, 73 died in the bombing of a Cuban passenger plane.

Now, one alleged mastermind lives freely in Miami, while another is being held on immigration charges in Texas. We speak to journalist Ann Louise Bardach. This past Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455. On October 6th, 1976, the airline left Venezuela headed for Cuba. It would never reach its destination. Just minutes into flight after a stopover in Barbados, the plane exploded in mid-air. All 73 passengers were killed.

On Friday, relatives of the victims gathered at a cemetery in Havana. In addition to remembering their loved ones, the mourners also renewed calls for justice. <b>The main suspect is currently in US custody. But the Bush administration won’t extradite him to Venezuela or Cuba to stand trial. The suspect’s name is Luis Posada Carriles. He’s an anti-Castro Cuban exile with extensive ties to the CIA.</b> Posada was arrested last year after he snuck back into the United States following years of hiding in Latin America. He’s currently being held in a Texas detention center. A federal judge recently ruled that Posada should be freed pending deportation, but U.S. immigration officials said Thursday he’ll remain in custody. Cuba has accused the Bush administration of having a double standard on prosecuting terrorists.

... In addition to Luis Posada Carriles, Bardach also interviews Orlando Bosch. He’s another long-time anti-Castro exile who’s been implicated in the Cubana bombing among many other international crimes. I began by asking Ann Louise Bardach to talk about Posada and Bosch’s links to the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 and who else they worked with at the time.

(more..)