Wednesday, May 09, 2007
SWOP homepageA Terrorist Set Free, Bush has blood on hands
Public demands Luis Posada Carriles be Tried or Extradited for Acts of Terrorism
Press Advisory
For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 10th, 2007
Contact: Albuquerque, Louis Head: 505-463-0439, Jo Ann Gutierrez Bejar – 505-247-8832
San Antonio, Che Lopez: 210-378-5132
PROTEST: Friday, May 11, 2007 @ 12 noon
Federal Court House
333 Lomas Blvd. NW (between 3rd & 4th)
The SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), Albuquerque, NM and Southwest Workers Union (SWU), San Antonio, TX will be demonstrating – in conjunction with similar demonstrations in El Paso, Washington, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Boston, Miami, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal – in front of the US Federal Court House to demand that terrorist Luis Posada Carriles either be tried for his crimes in the US or that he be extradited to Venezuela to stand trial there.
“The terrorist Luis Posada is considered by many to be the ‘Osama bin Laden of the Americas.’ To this we say “Immigrant Families Yes, Terrorists No!” exclaims Louis Head, board member of SWOP.
Posada a Cuban national and naturalized Venezuelan citizen was involved in the mid-air bombing of a commercial jetliner in 1976, bombings of Cuban hotels in the 1990s, and an attempt on the life of Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000. In 2005 Posada entered the US and spent two months free in Miami before US authorities finally arrested him on immigration violation charges. Posada, a long time US intelligence asset and CIA agent, was charged with illegally entering the US and of lying to immigration officials, not with crimes related to his history of terrorism. He is wanted in Venezuela on charges related to the 1976 plane bombing, which resulted in the deaths of 73 people including part of the Cuban national fencing team and several Guyanese students traveling to Cuba to attend medical school.
Despite an 84-year-old extradition agreement between the US and Venezuela, the Bush Administration refuses to return Posada, who escaped from a Venezuelan prison in the 1980s.
On Tuesday, May 8, 2007 a federal judge in El Paso dropped all immigration charges against Posada, stating that the Justice Department had improperly dealt with his case. He now walks free in Miami.
“The US government is engaged in criminalizing millions of undocumented workers and their families, yet lets a terrorist like Luis Posada roam freely. The United States judicial system needs to try Luis Posada for committing terrorist crimes against humanity, or send him back to Venezuela where he is a wanted man!” states Che Lopez, Co-Director of the Southwest Workers Union in San Antonio, TX.
“According to international law, according to antiterrorism agreements, when there is an attack on a civil plane, the country that has a suspect in its custody and is asked for him to be extradited to another place so that he can be investigated and tried, that country that has him has only two options: to extradite him or, without exception, to try him itself. Posada is not a suspect. Posada was being tried, formally accused over twenty years ago by another Venezuelan government, by other Venezuelan courts that have been demanding him ever since then.” – Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament.
Press Advisory
For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 10th, 2007
Contact: Albuquerque, Louis Head: 505-463-0439, Jo Ann Gutierrez Bejar – 505-247-8832
San Antonio, Che Lopez: 210-378-5132
PROTEST: Friday, May 11, 2007 @ 12 noon
Federal Court House
333 Lomas Blvd. NW (between 3rd & 4th)
The SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), Albuquerque, NM and Southwest Workers Union (SWU), San Antonio, TX will be demonstrating – in conjunction with similar demonstrations in El Paso, Washington, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Boston, Miami, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal – in front of the US Federal Court House to demand that terrorist Luis Posada Carriles either be tried for his crimes in the US or that he be extradited to Venezuela to stand trial there.
“The terrorist Luis Posada is considered by many to be the ‘Osama bin Laden of the Americas.’ To this we say “Immigrant Families Yes, Terrorists No!” exclaims Louis Head, board member of SWOP.
Posada a Cuban national and naturalized Venezuelan citizen was involved in the mid-air bombing of a commercial jetliner in 1976, bombings of Cuban hotels in the 1990s, and an attempt on the life of Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000. In 2005 Posada entered the US and spent two months free in Miami before US authorities finally arrested him on immigration violation charges. Posada, a long time US intelligence asset and CIA agent, was charged with illegally entering the US and of lying to immigration officials, not with crimes related to his history of terrorism. He is wanted in Venezuela on charges related to the 1976 plane bombing, which resulted in the deaths of 73 people including part of the Cuban national fencing team and several Guyanese students traveling to Cuba to attend medical school.
Despite an 84-year-old extradition agreement between the US and Venezuela, the Bush Administration refuses to return Posada, who escaped from a Venezuelan prison in the 1980s.
On Tuesday, May 8, 2007 a federal judge in El Paso dropped all immigration charges against Posada, stating that the Justice Department had improperly dealt with his case. He now walks free in Miami.
“The US government is engaged in criminalizing millions of undocumented workers and their families, yet lets a terrorist like Luis Posada roam freely. The United States judicial system needs to try Luis Posada for committing terrorist crimes against humanity, or send him back to Venezuela where he is a wanted man!” states Che Lopez, Co-Director of the Southwest Workers Union in San Antonio, TX.
“According to international law, according to antiterrorism agreements, when there is an attack on a civil plane, the country that has a suspect in its custody and is asked for him to be extradited to another place so that he can be investigated and tried, that country that has him has only two options: to extradite him or, without exception, to try him itself. Posada is not a suspect. Posada was being tried, formally accused over twenty years ago by another Venezuelan government, by other Venezuelan courts that have been demanding him ever since then.” – Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament.
Labels: Cuba, Immigration, luis posada carriles, patriot act, Venezuela
