Terrorist who blew up plane, killing 73, seeks asylum -- in US

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" Zepp " <zepp

Wed, 18 May 2005 06:45:57 -0700

[Zepps_News] Terrorist who blew up plane, killing 73, seeks

asylum -- in US

 

 

 

 

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1486446,00.html>

 

Mojitos in Miami

 

The US has one standard for its allies, and another for its enemies

 

Duncan Campbell

Wednesday May 18, 2005

The Guardian

 

A commercial airliner is blown up in midair with the loss of many lives.

Nearly 30 years later, a man accused of organising the bombing is traced

to Miami. With the " war on terror " in full swing, it would seem likely

that the American authorities would leap into action to arrest the

suspect and dispatch him for trial to the country where the plot was

hatched.

 

Luis Posada is a 77-year-old Cuban exile who has been involved in many

attempts to overthrow Fidel Castro since the abortive Bay of Pigs

operation in 1961. He has long been seen as a prime suspect in the 1976

midair bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. He was

arrested in Caracas many years ago and charged with the offence but

escaped from custody in suspicious circumstances. He has since made his

way to Florida, a place that has, over the years, become something of a

rest-home for the heavy-mob enforcers of Latin American military

dictatorships.

 

The Venezuelan supreme court approved an extradition request for Mr

Posada last month. Yesterday, after he cheerfully gave a newspaper

interview in Miami, saying he did not feel it was necessary to lie low

any more, he was finally detained by immigration officials. The

department of homeland security now has 48 hours to make an official

determination of his immigration status. Posada, meanwhile, has already

let it be known through his lawyers that he is now seeking asylum in

the US.

 

The Posada affair is top of the agenda in Cuba, where Fidel Castro has

this week been repeatedly calling on President Bush to act decisively

against terrorism by arresting Mr Posada and deporting him for trial.

The case is an important one because at its heart is the belief, held in

many parts of the world, that the US has one standard of morality for

its allies and another for its enemies.

 

By a twist of fate, the Posada case has come to prominence just as the

US state department refused admission to Dora Maria Tellez to take up a

visiting professorship at Harvard. Ms Tellez is as well known in Latin

American political circles as Mr Posada. As a young Sandinista, she

played a major role in the overthrow of the dictator Anastasio Somoza in

Nicaragua in 1979. One activity she was involved in was the armed

occupation of the national palace, an event which sent a signal to

Nicaraguans that Somoza was vulnerable and that the revolution against

him could succeed.

 

Ms Tellez has visited the US many times since the revolution, both as an

academic and a visitor. No one in the state department seriously

imagines that she is a terrorist threat any more than they believe that

Nelson Mandela constitutes a risk because of his involvement with the

African National Congress, which was once described as a terrorist

group. The refusal to let Ms Tellez pursue her academic career has more

to do with spite and the fact that the American diplomats who played

such a shabby role in central America in the 70s and 80s are now back in

favour. The decision to bar her from entry, however, acts as an

educational counterpoint to what has been happening with Luis Posada.

 

Some American former diplomats have had the courage to speak up about Mr

Posada. Wayne Smith, once his country's chief diplomat in Cuba, said

this week that " the only acceptable action here is to expel Mr Posada

from the United States. We must not harbour terrorists. " The state

department response has come from Roger Noriega, who has responsibility

for western hemisphere affairs and who said that the charges against Mr

Posada " may be a completely manufactured issue " . Only a few days ago, Mr

Noriega said with a straight face that he did not even know if Mr Posada

was in the US. One hopes he was made aware of yesterday's arrest.

 

Mr Posada spent many years on the payroll of the CIA, who were happy to

turn a blind eye to his activities and those of his associates as long

as they were pointed in the direction of Fidel Castro. He must have

imagined that he would spend the evening of his days sipping mojitos in

Miami. Following his detention, the state department has to make its

choice: it can acknowledge that blowing up civilian airliners is

unacceptable even when the victims are citizens of an " axis of evil "

country and duly dispatch Mr Posada for trial to Venezuela, or it can

ignore the issue and face further international cynicism.

--

 

 

 

" As democracy is perfected, the office of president

represents, more and more closely, the inner soul

of the people. On some great and glorious day the

plain folks of the land will reach their heart's

desire at last and the White House will be adorned

by a downright moron. " --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

 

 

Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!

Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.

 

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