[antiwar-van] Important Update: Terrorist Posada ends bids for aslyum in the US

[Tamara Hansen]

IMPORTANT: Updates on the case of anti-Cuban terroist
Luis Posada Carriles

*********************
Granma International News - Havana. September 1, 2005
 
THE POSADA CASE: 
BLACKMAILING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
Revelations of complicity by Honduran authorities and
the FBI in protecting the terrorist while he was in
that country

LUIS Posada Carriles’ defense attorney, announcing
that his client was formally withdrawing his
application for political asylum in the United States,
said that “he knows a lot ... and if he talks it could
hurt the FBI, the CIA and the government in general.”
That kind of statement has a name: blackmail.

Matthew J. Archambeault, Posada’s lawyer, later added
that his client would not continue testifying because
“He may step into sensitive areas that could harm the
security of the U.S. government or other countries.”

As demonstrated with his statements to the New York
Times several years ago, Posada’s threats could have a
paralyzing effect, given that they range from
drugs-for-arms deals by the U.S. government in Central
America to the conspiracy to assassinate former
President Kennedy.

The most recent events of the immigration hearing
taking place in El Paso, Texas confirm the progression
of negotiations between the White House and
representatives for the international terrorist. 

Eduardo Soto, Posada’s main defense attorney from
Miami, told El Nuevo Herald in that city on August 29
that his “mysterious absence” from the immigration
hearing was explained by negotiations with Washington
“through a high-ranking official.”

Soto revealed that an agreement had almost been
reaching providing for U.S. government protect of
Posada under the International Convention Against
Torture to guarantee that his client would not be sent
to Cuba or Venezuela. In exchange, he would withdraw
his petition for asylum.

Posada’s hearing is taking place at an immigration
detention center in El Paso, Texas. Prosecutors have
asked for a new hearing beginning September 26.

******************
Radio Havana Cuba

POSADA CARRILES' TRAIL IS A LEGAL FARCE, says Cuba
Daily 

Havana, September 1 (RHC) -- What is taking place in
the case of Luis Posada Carriles is a legal farce and
an insult to the many victims of this international
terrorist, notes the Granma newspaper editorial on
Thursday. 

AIN reports that Posada Carriles, not surprisingly,
changed strategy Wednesday by withdrawing his asylum
request in the US. The case was in the third day of
hearings at an El Paso, Texas immigration court. The
Cuban-born, naturalized Venezuelan, entered the US
covertly in March and was detained two months later
after a press conference in Miami. 

In order to evade his extradition to Venezuela, he is
claiming protection under the International Convention
against Torture, on which a hearing was set for
September 26. Posada's attorney is trying to take
advantage of the Bush administration's growing
hostility toward the popular Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, by claiming he would not receive fair
treatment in the South American country where he
allegedly organized the bombing of a Cuban airliner
that took the life of 73 persons. 

"It is evident that everything has already being
settled between the defense and the prosecutors,"
asserts Granma. The article also points out that
despite Posada's thick dossier as a terrorist, the
topic has so far been avoided in the courtroom where
he is only accused of illegal entry to the US. Granma
also recalled the similar case of Cuban-American
terrorist Orlando Bosch who was supposed to be
deported when a presidential pardon by Bush Sr. set
him free in 1990. Presently Bosch, a long time
associate of Posada, lives in Miami and is active with
rightwing organizations that plan and carry out
violent actions against Cuba. 

In addition, the Cuban newspaper publishes lawyer Jose
Pertierra's statements censuring the US media which
has not reacted to the sham being carried out in El
Paso. The 77 year-old Posada is an explosives expert
and long time CIA operative. He participated in the
1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, is credited with the
in-flight sabotage of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 on
October 6, 1976 and a string of deadly hotel bombings
in Havana in 1997, as well as several assassination
attempts against Fidel Castro and other officials. 

*******************
 
BBC NEWS

CUBAN MILITANT ENDS US ASYLUM BID

Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles has withdrawn his
application for asylum in the United States at a court
hearing.

Accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro, he
faces possible deportation to Venezuela, where he is
wanted over a 1976 plane bombing.

The former CIA operative says he faces torture if he
is sent to Venezuela.

His lawyer says he will now seek to remain in the US
on the basis of  his US military service. Another
court hearing is scheduled for 26 September.

Mr Posada Carriles alleged the Cuban leader tried to
have him killed in 1990 because of his previous work
for Venezuela as a security official.

The former CIA operative was arrested in Miami in May,
and applied for asylum.

But he has now withdrawn his asylum plea, because he
feared continued testimony in court might force him to
reveal state secrets.

He will now apply for US citizenship, under a law
applying to non-citizens who served honourably in the
US military.

Mr Posada Carriles served for one year in the early
1960s.

Torture threat

The 77-year-old has been appearing before an
immigration judge in El Paso, Texas, to face charges
of entering the US illegally.

If the court finds against him, he risks being
extradited to Venezuela.

Venezuela accuses Mr Posada Carriles of planning the
bombing of the Cubana Airlines plane on a flight from
Caracas to Havana in 1976, an attack which left 73
people dead.

A naturalised Venezuelan, he was twice acquitted by
courts there of plotting to bomb the plane.

He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while
awaiting a trial on appeal.

He told the court he spent 15 of the years since his
escape living on a military base in El Salvador and
making frequent trips to Guatemala.

The exile said he had been issued passports and travel
documents with different names by the governments of
those countries.

"We had identification cards the government would give
us. We could not use our names or the Communists would
kill us," he said.

Earlier a Venezuelan lawyer, testifying on behalf of
Mr Posada Carriles, said he would be tortured if he
were extradited.

Joaquin Chaffardet said it was also very likely
Caracas would send him to Cuba.

The Cuban government says Mr Posada Carriles was
behind a series of bombings of hotels in Havana in
1997.

Fidel Castro has said that he should be tried in
Venezuela, or in front of an international court.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4201266.stm

Published: 2005/09/01 05:09:42 GMT
*********************


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