Ricardo Alarcon on the Release of Ex-CIA Operative Posada Carriles, the Cuban 5, Gitmo...

The Cuban and Venezuelan governments have repeated their calls for former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles to be extradited to stand trial for his role in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada was scheduled to go on trial in Texas on Friday for immigration fraud but a U.S. federal judge tossed out the indictment on Tuesday making Posada a free man. Critics of the Bush administration's handling of the Posada case say it demonstrates a U.S. double standard on terrorism. Posada has been linked to several acts of terrorism in addition to the 1976 airline bombing. He is currently being investigated by a grand jury in New Jersey for masterminding a string of hotel bombings in Havana in the 1990s. Evidence has also emerged linking him to a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Meanwhile pressure is growing in Washington for President Bush to take action against Posada. On Wednesday Democratic Congressman William Delahunt urged Bush to detain Posada and certify him as a terrorist under the Patriot Act. Congressman Delahant said the U.S. government should not be giving sanctuary to a man he described as "one of the Western Hemisphere's most notorious killers." Democratic Congressman Jose Serrano of New York also condemned the Bush administration's handling of the Posada case. Serrano said: "It further weakens our moral standing in the world as we will undoubtedly be seen as being biased in our ongoing war on terrorism. We go now to Havana for an exclusive interview with the President of the Cuban National Assembly Ricardo Alarcon.

* Ricardo Alarcon.President of the Cuban National Assembly.

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/10/1418232