33 Years since Plane Tragedy: Venezuela Reiterates Demand that U.S. Extradite Posada Carriles
Mérida,
October 7th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Yesterday on the 33rd
anniversary of the bomb attack on a Cuban plane which left 73 people dead,
Venezuela once again called for the U.S. to extradite terrorist Luis Posada
Carriles, the known mastermind of the tragedy.
"Posada
Carriles is over there [in the U.S.] protected by the government of [Barack]
Obama, who came offering changes. Well Obama, send the terrorist over here, comply
with the law and international agreements," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
said.
After
escaping from a Venezuelan prison in 1985, Posada Carriles entered the U.S. in
2005 seeking political asylum to avoid the extradition requests by Cuba and
Venezuela. That year a U.S. judge ruled that Posada Carriles could not be
deported because he could be tortured in Venezuela. According to U.S.-Venezuelan
bilateral agreements, the U.S. is legally obligated to deport terrorists when
requested.
"[The
extreme right wing of the U.S.] applaud that terrorist, Posada Carriles, they
applaud him and they protect him. They are disgusting," Chavez added, while
paying tribute to the victims of the plane tragedy and sending his solidarity
to the Cuban people.
Jose
Pertierra, the lawyer representing the Venezuelan government in the U.S., said
the extradition request has now been delayed by a trial of Posada Carriles in
the U.S. for minor migration infractions. "We have to wait until that trial, which
is scheduled for 1 March 2010, and when that happens the United States won't
have any more excuses to not extradite him," Pertierra said.
"It's
not just that Venezuela has solicited the extradition of Posada Carriles, but
also the U.S. law, the Patriot Act, authorises the U.S. government to detain him
without having to use judicial resources, that is, just declaring him a
terrorist and he goes to jail, but neither [former U.S. President George] Bush
nor [current President Barack] Obama have wanted to use that resource,"
Pertierra continued.
"The
main reason the United States government refuses to extradite the confessed
terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, protected there since 2005, is because he
continues to be an active official for the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA],"
argued Latin American Parliament representative Carolus Wimmer.
Wimmer
cited the example of the alleged assassination plan against Chavez in June. Posada
Carriles was accused of being one of the architects of the plot. Chavez had to
cancel his trip to the inauguration ceremony of El Salvadoran President
Mauricio Funes as a result.
"This
is the perfect time and situation for U.S. President Barack Obama to show that
his country really is at the forefront of the struggle against terrorism…
because such an affirmation is inconceivable while they continue protecting a
terrorist and murderer like Posada Carriles," Wimmer said as he supported the
call for extradition.
Posada
Carriles was born in Cuba in 1928 and is a nationalised Venezuelan. In addition
to the Cuban plane attack, he also organised a series of attacks on Cuban
hotels in 1997, something he has publicly admitted. He served in the U.S. army
and Venezuelan police where he is known to have tortured and killed for
political reasons, and has worked as a CIA agent.
He was arrested in Venezuela in 1976 where he was
imprisoned until 1985, when he escaped. In 2000 he was briefly detained in Panama
for a plan to assassinate then president of Cuba, Fidel Castro.