[progchat_action] US accused of sheltering terrorist
 
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:45:46 -0500 (CDT)


Cuba, Venezuela Rap US in Terrorism Case

By Edith M. Lederer
The Associated Press
March 19, 2008

United Nations - Cuba and Venezuela criticized the United States on
Wednesday for failing to hand over or prosecute an alleged terrorist accused
of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban jetliner in 1976. The United States
insisted it is acting legally.

The case of Luis Posada Carriles - a Cuban-born Venezuelan citizen who has
been a Venezuelan security officer, a soldier in the U.S. Army and a CIA
operative - was raised during a U.N. Security Council meeting on U.N.
efforts to combat terrorism.

Cuban Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz called the 80-year-old Posada, a
militant opponent of Fidel Castro's communist regime, "the most notorious
terrorist of the Western hemisphere."

He said there is sufficient evidence linking Posada to "some of the most
infamous crimes of the 20th century" including the bombing of the Cubana de
Aviacion jet over Barbados that killed 73 people, the Iran-Contra scandal
and the bombings of Havana hotels in 1997.

Deputy Venezuelan Ambassador Aura Rodriguez de Ortiz accused the United
States of ignoring a request made nearly three years ago for Posada's
extradition, calling him "a known international criminal and terrorist and
fugitive of Venezuelan justice."

The United States, she said, is bound not only by the 1922 U.S.-Venezuelan
extradition treaty but by international treaties on terrorist bombings and
the safety of civil aviation "to extradite or submit his case for
prosecution without any exception."

Carolyn Willson, a senior diplomat at the U.S. Mission to the United
Nations, countered that the United States has taken a number of steps on
Posada "consistent with international law as well as our domestic legal
framework, which provides for due process and various constitutional
safeguards."

Posada, who denies the terrorism accusations, was arrested in May 2005 on
charges of sneaking into the United States illegally. An immigration judge
in Texas ordered his deportation - but not to Venezuela or Cuba "because it
was more likely than not that he would be tortured if he were so
transferred," Willson said.

"This order remains in effect," she said.

Willson said the U.S. also obtained an indictment against Posada charging
him with violating immigration laws but it was dismissed last year by a U.S.
district judge who ruled the government engaged in trickery and made several
mistakes while building its criminal case. The government is appealing, she
said.

Posada, who is believed to be living in south Florida, is still subject to
U.S. government monitoring and reporting requirements and he remains under
investigation for his past activities, Willson said.

Cuba's Malmierca called the U.S. appeal "a new smoke screen." He and his
Venezuelan colleague questioned why Posada's case is being treated as a
minor immigration crime, charging that Washington wants to hide its own
involvement in his alleged crimes.

"We are faced with a case where a terrorist is being protected," said
Rodriguez de Ortiz.

Copyright ) 2008 The Associated Press.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdsLxvYDk9CXOOPHbGkSBJta5ikgD8VGOP5G0

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