Cuba Documentation Project
Anti-Castro Cuban Exile Tied to Deadly 1976 Airline Bombing Seeks Political Asylum in U.S.
Listen to DemocracyNow! Segment: HERE
Luis Posada Carriles applied for political asylum Tuesday after spending the last 40 years trying to violently overthrow the Castro government. He has been tied to bombings that have killed at least 74 people and has been imprisoned in Venezuela and Panama. We talk to Cuban expert Peter Kornbluh about Posada's request and what it means for President Bush's "war on terrorism." [includes rush transcript] One of the most notorious militant Cuban exiles applied Tuesday for political asylum in the United States. Luis Posada Carriles is a 77-year-old former CIA operative who was trained by the U.S. Army at Fort Benning in Georgia. He has been trying to violently overthrow Fidel Castro's government for four decades. Three weeks ago he entered the United States after years of hiding in Central America and the Caribbean.
Posada has been connected to the 1976 downing of a civilian airliner that killed 73 passengers; a series of 1997 bombings of hotels, restaurants, and discotheques in Havana that killed an Italian tourist; and a plot to assassinate Castro five years ago.
In 1998 Posada told the New York Times "The C.I.A. taught us everything... They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of sabotage."
On Tuesday Democratic Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts called for a federal investigation into how Posada entered the country. He also called for Posada to be arrested and deported. Delahunt said that if the U.S. facilitated Posada's entry into the country it would "obliterate America's credibility in the war on terrorism." Delahunt said that if the U.S. grants Posada asylum it would suggest "that we share the views of those who support al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.' "
* Peter Kornbluh, director of the National Security Archive's Cuba Documentation Project. LINK HERE to Cuba Documentation Project
Listen to DemocracyNow! Segment: HERE
Luis Posada Carriles applied for political asylum Tuesday after spending the last 40 years trying to violently overthrow the Castro government. He has been tied to bombings that have killed at least 74 people and has been imprisoned in Venezuela and Panama. We talk to Cuban expert Peter Kornbluh about Posada's request and what it means for President Bush's "war on terrorism." [includes rush transcript] One of the most notorious militant Cuban exiles applied Tuesday for political asylum in the United States. Luis Posada Carriles is a 77-year-old former CIA operative who was trained by the U.S. Army at Fort Benning in Georgia. He has been trying to violently overthrow Fidel Castro's government for four decades. Three weeks ago he entered the United States after years of hiding in Central America and the Caribbean.
Posada has been connected to the 1976 downing of a civilian airliner that killed 73 passengers; a series of 1997 bombings of hotels, restaurants, and discotheques in Havana that killed an Italian tourist; and a plot to assassinate Castro five years ago.
In 1998 Posada told the New York Times "The C.I.A. taught us everything... They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of sabotage."
On Tuesday Democratic Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts called for a federal investigation into how Posada entered the country. He also called for Posada to be arrested and deported. Delahunt said that if the U.S. facilitated Posada's entry into the country it would "obliterate America's credibility in the war on terrorism." Delahunt said that if the U.S. grants Posada asylum it would suggest "that we share the views of those who support al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.' "
* Peter Kornbluh, director of the National Security Archive's Cuba Documentation Project. LINK HERE to Cuba Documentation Project
posted by Sam Spade in Scandinavia at 6:51 AM
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