Cuba slams U.S. decision to harbor terrorist Posada

From a Prensa Latina report, Havana, Sept. 28.

The decision of an immigration judge in Texas to grant shelter in the U.S. to Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, mastermind of a mid-air bombing of a commercial plane that killed 73 people, is an infamous judicial call, Cuba says.

Under the headline “Infamous Judicial Decision: Posada under the Empire’s Protection,” Granma daily recalls Sept. 28 that immigration judge William Abbott chose Sept. 27 not to deport Posada Carriles, either to Venezuela or Cuba.

Abbott ruled that the notorious criminal remained in custody of the Immi gra tion Customs Enforcement, and granted 90 days for the U.S. to find a country willing to shelter Posada Carriles. He also gave the attorney one month to appeal.

“This is a chronicle of an agreement reached since the very first day Posada decided to travel to the U.S.,” said Jose Pertierra, an expert on immigration issues.

Pertierra said Abbott's ruling did not invalidate the Venezuelan extradition request because the extradition procedure prevailed over the immigration one.

“There are two dangers now. The U.S. government can send him to a third country in the coming three months to avoid his extradition to Venezuela, or may refuse to deport him and release him on bail as it did in the case of Posada’s crony, Orlando Bosch,”maintained Pertierra.

On Sept. 26, the Venezuelan government issued a statement ripping the Bush administration for harboring “this self-confessed terrorist.”

“Prosecution is neither persecution nor torture,” underlines the statement, issued by the Venezuelan Embassy in Wash ing ton. “There is no evidence that the government of Venezuela would torture Posada. To grant CAT [Convention Against Torture] relief to Posada Carriles is to twist an international treaty meant to protect innocent victims of torture into an instrument with which to shelter a terrorist.”