[The venezuelanalysis article below reports on the Venezuelan government's demand that the terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, be extradited to Venezuela to face charges for his involvement in the bombing of Cubana airline flight 455, which killed 73 passengers. --Ed]
A billboard of George W. Bush and terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, displayed in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana reads "Anyone who harbours a terrorist is a terrorist." Havana, Cuba, March 1, 2006. Credit: Pablo Navarrete
Venezuela Demands Posada Carriles Extradition on 30th Anniversary of Bombing
By Michael Fox – Venezuelanalysis.com
October 09, 2006
Washington, DC, October 9, 2006—Venezuela once again demanded the extradition of the terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, last Friday. The call was made by Venezuelan foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro on the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Cubana airline flight 455, which cost the lives of 73 passengers. Posada has been accused and implicated in the act, but has never stood trial. New documents were further put forth in his case last week as the US announced that he would not be immediately released from the El Paso jail where he is currently being held on immigration charges, for entering the United States illegally last spring.
During a press conference last Friday, Maduro called Posada guilty and the bombing, a “an abominable and monstrous event.” Maduro further criticized the double standard of the Bush administration regarding international terrorism.
“On the one hand, they attack terrorism, but on the other they protect terrorists. This immoral conduct has been condemned in diverse scenarios by the Venezuelan government, President Hugo Chávez condemned it recently in his speech before the UN and because of the impact which his speech made, for the first time in all of these years calling for the deportation of Posada Carriles, the North American press and television picked up the criticism of the US government’s protection. This objective was achieved with Chávez’ speech,” said Maduro.
Maduro went on to say, “For the first time since Venezuela solicited his extradition a year and a half ago, they have introduced a written document to be evaluated where for the first time they recognize that this sad character, this assassin, could be a danger for the community in the United States and recognize that there are public documents with evidence that he could be involved in terrorist acts such as the bombing of the Cuban airliner.”
The Case
Although the United States stopped short of naming Posada Carriles a terrorist, it responded with the harshest condemnation of him yet last Thursday. In papers filed by the Justice Department in the Federal Court in El Paso, he was described as “an unrepentant criminal and admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks on tourist sites.”
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