Venezuelan dissidents seek asylum (Wanted for embassy bombings in VZ)

[Say_What]

Charged in Venezuela and wanted by Interpol, these two *dissidents* are in Miami, US terrorist center, where known terrorists walk the streets free. And the corporate press refers to these guys as *dissidents*. LOL See background article below.

<clips>

Two dissident Venezuelan military officers sought in connection with embassy bombings in their home country appeared before a Miami immigration judge Tuesday in a move to gain political asylum.

Accompanied for the first time by an attorney, José Antonio Colina Pulido and Germán Varela made a brief appearance before Judge Neale Foster in immigration court during a preliminary hearing.

"Their asylum claim is based on the fact that they fear persecution upon their return by the Venezuelan government," said Leopoldo Ochoa, a Coral Gables attorney who represents the former officers. He said the two men have until Feb. 3 to file an asylum claim.

Colina and Varela arrived at Miami International Airport on Dec. 12 on a flight from Colombia. They were taken into custody and remain at Krome detention center in southwest Miami-Dade County, Ochoa said.

<http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pasylum21jan21,0,6164201.story?coll=sfla-news-palm>

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<clips>

Venezuela Asks Interpol to Help Capture Terror Suspects Seeking Asylum in the US

Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 30 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- Venezuelan police authorities have requested the cooperation of Interpol in the United States for the capture of fugitive anti-government military rebels German Rodolfo Varela and Jose Antonio Colina.

The rebels have been charged in connection with the terrorist attacks to the Embassy of Spain and the Consulate of Colombia in Caracas, on February 26, 2003.

Both Varela and Colina are part of a group of rebel military officers who openly oppose the government of President Hugo Chavez, and who set up a protest camp at the Francia Square in the affluent eastern Caracas neighborhood of Altamira, to give anti-government speeches and make calls to overthrow the President.

According to a report by the El Nuevo Herald of Miami, the two officers managed to elude Venezuelan police authorities and escaped to Colombia. Later, on December 19th, they arrived in the US in a flight coming from Bogota, Colombia, and requested political asylum in Miami. They remain under the custody of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1147

[seventhson]

1. Those Nations who harbor terrorists....

are the enemies of freedom.

[Say_What]

3. Behind every terrorist there's a Bush

George HW, George W, Jebbie, etc., etc.

<>

[tinanator]

4. and vice versa

want to find Osama? Beat the Bushs.

[Minstrel Boy]

2. The hypocricy has reached the stage of dementia.

terrorists = freedom fighters
democratic president = strong man

And if Americans don't know to seek out the truth, they won't find it.

[Hoppin_Mad]

5. They should easily be able to get jobs supervising at the WHISC -nt-

[Say_What]

6. Interview with Father Roy Bourgeois of SOA Watch

<clips>

"Hugo Chavez is giving the poor some hope and it is contagious"

Sunday I visited some long-time friends in a barrio on the periphery of Caracas, Nueva Tacagua. The part I was visiting is composed of cardboard shacks (called “ranchos” in Venezuela) covered with laminated tin sheets to keep the cardboard from collapsing should it sop up the water when it rains. I lived in one of these shacks from 1985 to 1993 as a Catholic missionary priest at that time. My home no longer exists due to a landslide in August 1993 that wiped out my immediate neighborhood. This public housing project was built during the first presidency of Carlos Andres Perez when oil money was pouring into the country.

I had finished visiting one family and was on my way to another home when my cellular phone rang. “Charlie, there are some Catholic missionaries from the U.S. on Alo Presidente.” I had just passed a shack where I had heard the president speaking. (When you live in a cardboard house, not only can passersby hear every word you say but they also know what you are watching on television.) I backtracked and knocked on the door. A woman whom I did not know answered and I asked, “Would it be possible to watch Alo Presidente with you for a few moments?”

If I had been in a wealthy part of the city, I would never have done that. But barrio life is different. She let me in, gave me a chair and I sat and watched and engaged in conversation for the next half hour. Speaking to President Chavez was a Catholic priest associated with the Maryknoll Missionaries, Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch (www.soaw.org), an organization that tries to keep an eye on the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC). He mentioned that two of the generals who had led the April 2002 coup in Venezuela were educated at the school: General Efrain Vasquez Velasco, the Army Commander-in-Chief, and General Ramirez Poveda. The next day, I had a chance to interview Father Bourgeois and the following is a transcript of our conversation. If this were for a printed publication, I might have edited it in order to shorten it, but the internet gives me the chance to share with you what he said to me.

* * * * *

Hardy: Why did you decide to come to Venezuela?

Bourgeois: Because of what we have been hearing—that there is something going on in Venezuela, that there is a revolution going on here where the poor are being talked about, that somehow we’ve got a president and a government here that’s on the side of the poor that is offering the poor a vision that gives them hope and promise for a better way of life. That is something very, very unusual in Latin America I was invited to come as a part of a delegation and thought it was important to come and to see for myself what is happening here.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1090

[eablair3]

10. thanks .. Father Roy is a true and courageous hero

thanks for posting that

[pescao]

13. here is father roy on the show

and another from last sunday:



more at http://www.thenewagenda.org/alo

[Just Me]

7. How ironic,...

,...I don't know if any of you DUers have read "Censored: 2004"; but, just yesterday I was reading about a censored story concerning the Bush administration's role behind the failed coup in Venezuela (well, actually I have seen the name of the video "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" floating around this board).

Do these two have any links to that; and, if so, does Chavez really anticipate that these guys (*LOL* being harbored in Jebbie's State of Florida, no less) are going to be turned over? Well, of course, he wouldn't expect such a thing.

It simply NEVER ceases to amaze me how freakin' gutless and cheap/cheap/cheap our "prime-time" mainstream media outlets are these days. I swear, if the general American public even had a clue what a cheap and worthless product the big media conglomerates put out,...they would surely tell them to go straight to hell. Soros and guys/gals like him (if they really want to "empower" humanity) need to invest in informing the people and like take on the media!!!

[Say_What]

9. They were part of the officers involved in the coup

See "Revolution" if you have the opportunity--it is an incredible documentary. http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/home.htm

<clips>

Rebel Venezuelan Ex-Military Officers ask for a U.S. Military Invasion of Venezuela

..The statements made by the rebel military officers confirm reports that a series of alleged conversations have taken place between representatives of the opposition coalition Democratic Coordinator and upper-class organizations in Venezuela with members of the U.S. government. These meetings appear to have achieved interventionist declarations against Venezuela, such as those made by Condoleezza Rice, the Cuban-Americans Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, and US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.

The Maria Elvira Confronta program is one of the most watched shows by the Hispanic population in Southern Florida. The program has interviewed individuals such as former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet, who, despite clear and convincing evidence of his genocidal acts, described himself as “angel who acted out of love for his country,” during his interview.

The appropriate Venezuelan authorities will decide whether an investigation will be conducted regarding the alarming requests of the rebel Venezuelan military officers living in Miami. Calling for or collaborating with foreign invasions on Venezuelan territory constitutes the crime of treason in Venezuela, as well as in many countries around the world.

Last December, Venezuelan police authorities requested the cooperation of Interpol in the United States for the capture of fugitive anti-government military rebels German Rodolfo Varela and Jose Antonio Colina. The fugitive rebels have been charged in connection with the terrorist attacks to the Embassy of Spain and the Consulate of Colombia in Caracas, on February 26, 2003. On December 20th, they requested political asylum in Miami.

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1169

[Judi Lynn]

8. Another coup gentleman who encysted himself in Florida

(snip) Alleged coup leaders land in South Florida
By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 24, 2002


MIAMI -- In the aftermath of this month's failed coup in Venezuela, the United States faces potential further embarrassment after the discovery that several of the alleged coup leaders are now living in South Florida.

They include Isaac Perez Recao, 32, a reputed arms dealer and heir to a Venezuelan oil fortune, who is described in Venezuelan business circles as a headstrong young man with an interest in guns and security issues.

Together with a group of heavily armed bodyguards, Perez Recao played a highly visible role during the April 12-13 coup, according to detailed reports in the Venezuelan press. As the coup unraveled he reportedly boarded a private helicopter and flew to the Caribbean island of Aruba before flying on to Miami.

Perez Recao's family owns several homes in Key Biscayne, a wealthy island community connected to Miami by a seven-mile causeway, including a $2.4-million beachfront penthouse where he lives with his wife. He did not return several messages left with his sister, Odette Perez Recao. (snip)

Perez Recao's father, who died about five years ago, amassed an oil fortune. His uncle, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso, was the founder of the OPEC oil cartel.

The family also owns two shopping malls in North Carolina, according to Antonio Yip, their Miami lawyer. (snip/)

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/24/Worldandnation/Alleged_coup_leaders_.shtml

[eablair3]

11. Could it be? Bush is harboring terrorists in Miami?

nah, would Bush really harbor terrorists? I thought he said that you're either with us, or you're with the terrorists? If he's harboring terrorists, what does that make the U.S. and Bush?

Go Hugo Chavez, Go

this is another in the long line of terrorist stories with the individuals involved ending up in Florida. I hope this one gets more media attention than the previous many, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Judi Lynn]

12. As an earlier article pointed out, Miami serves as the target zone

where the unwanted right-wing dictators from Latin America are regurgitated.

Jeb Bush's own stomping grounds. Nice!