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.
