Cuba will Continue to Demand Justice in Posada Carriles Case

The information about the decision by a US federal judge to dismiss all the migratory
charges against Posada, setting him free and suspending the trial scheduled for next May
11, was announced to the Cuban people during the prime-time TV show The Round Table
Tuesday evening.

Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, who now walk freely on US territory, were the
masterminds of the 1976 bombing in mid air of a Cubana airliner that killed 73 people on
board.

In a 38-page ruling, Judge Kathleen Cardone described as so grossly shocking and so
outrageous the tactics used by the US administration to try Posada Carriles on seven
counts of immigration fraud, though she did not criticize Washington for not having
processed the defendant for his huge terrorist background.

Cardone said that the core of the case was not terrorism, as it was suggested, and she
called the defendant a "hot potato" in political terms.

During the TV show, analysts denounced the passive behaviour adopted by the US
prosecution as part of maneuvers aimed at guaranteeing impunity for Posada Carriles, who
carried out terrorist actions ordered and allowed by successive US administrations for
more than 40 years.

Rogelio Polanco, director of Juventud Rebelde Newspaper said the decision stems from the
White House determination to not accuse Posada of terrorism. He recalled different
terrorist actions undertaken by Posada Carriles against Cuba and other countries of this
hemisphere, which included bomb attempts against Havana hotels in 1997, torture and
murder of Venezuelan political activists in the 1970’s.

Eduardo Dimas, TV commentator said that the decision reveals the double standard of the
US administration’s anti-terror policy. It is a decision aimed at preventing the
terrorist from speaking about what he knows of the Bush clan, said the Cuban journalist
and he asked: Who was the CIA chief when former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier
was the victim of a life attempt, or when the Cubana airliner was bombed off the coasts
of Barbados?, and who ordered the release of Orlando Bosch? The answer is George H. Bush,
who was US president from 1998 to 1992 and father of George W. Bush.

Cuban President Fidel Castro denounced, in March 2005, the impunity and protection
offered to Luis Posada Carriles, who had travelled on board the Santrina boat and had
entered US territory, said Reinaldo Taladrid, also Cuban TV journalist. Posada Carriles
was arrested in May of that year, but since that moment many maneuvers have been
undertaken in order to prevent him from facing justice and to keep many issues in secret,
explained the journalist.

Although there is a pending extradition request by Venezuela, presented since 2005, and
there is the chance that a New Jersey court could accuse Posada for his connections to
bomb attempts against Cuban tourist facilities in 1997, the journalist considered that
the release of Posada marks the end of the legal process and the beginning of the
political stage of the case.

Taladrid referred to statements by several US congress people like William Delahunt, Jim
McDermott and Jose Serrano on taking the case to the US Congress due to the danger it
represents for the United States and the World. He cited a letter sent by Congressman
Delahunt to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez asking why Posada was not labelled a
terrorist, and affirming that his release puts at stake the US commitment to fight
terrorism while increases concern about a US double standard in dealing with terrorists.