Latin America's "Bin Laden" Denied Bail, Judge Cites Posada's Terror Record

We being today with a case we have been following closely for years. And that is the case of the Cuban-born former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles, the man identified by Havana as a leading anti-Castro terrorist. He is currently in immigration detention in Texas and awaits an asylum hearing in late August. He is currently being held on charges of illegally entering the country, but that is just a grain of sand in this case. He stands accused of a wide range of crimes and alleged crimes against Cuba and its president Fidel Castro. Not the least among the charges against Posada--the 1976 bombing of a Cubana Airlines plane, killing 73 people including the entire Cuban Olympic fencing team.

The Venezuelan government has demanded his extradition. Washington has said it will not hand him over, saying that Caracas is in the service of Fidel Castro. There is also the issue of Posada's alleged attempt to kill Castro in 1998 when he was attending a Latin American summit as well as the 1997 hotel bombings in Havana that killed an Italian tourist. Just some of the long list of charges against him. But none of those are part of the current proceedings. At least not officially.

On Monday, in an El Paso, Texas immigration court, Judge William Abbott rejected a request by Posada's lawyer that he be released on bond, ruling that Posada must remain in detention until his case is resolved. In his ruling, Abbott cited allegations that Posada is a terror suspect and said he was concerned Posada would flee. Abbott listed a series of terror allegations against Posada over several decades and said even Posada's participation in operations against Cuba in the early 1960s could be considered terror under today's standards. The Miami Herald reported that the judge's statement seemed to catch by surprise Posada's lawyer, Matthew Archambeault, who said he interpreted it to mean the judge would include the Bay of Pigs invasion -- which was organized by the U.S. government . In response, Judge Abbott said, "It doesn't necessarily matter who helped it...The question is whether that kind of activity today would be defined as aiding terrorism or participating in acts of terrorism.""

According to The Herald, Posada played a role in the Bay of Pigs operation but was not part of the invasion force itself. It was after that that Posada allegedly joined the CIA, moving to Venezuela in the late 1960s. In Caracas, Posada served as a senior Venezuelan security officer and later operated a private security agency.

He was arrested and charged in connection with the blowing up of a Cuban jetliner in 1976 that killed 73 people. Acquitted by a military court, Posada escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 before a civilian court could reach a verdict. Posada was detained in Miami-Dade on May 17 and accused of entering the country illegally. The Venezuelan government has demanded his extradition since then, but has been denied.

* Jose Pertierra, a Washington DC-based immigration lawyer. He has been retained by the Venezuelan government to represent it in the Luis Posada C `arriles case here in the United States. He joins us on the line from Caracas, Venezuela.
* Art Heitzer, Chair of the National Lawyers Guild's Cuba Subcommittee and works with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Related Links:
o Free the Cuba Five
o ANSWER Coalition
* Robert Parry, veteran investigative journalist and author of the new book "Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq." For years he worked as an investigative reporter for both the Associated Press and Newsweek magazine. His reporting led to the exposure of what is now known as the "Iran-Contra" scandal.

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/27/1422236