Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, detained in the United States, is a danger to the world and should be extradited to Venezuela, affirmed participants in the televised Cuban "Roundtable" program on Monday evening, AIN reports.
Panelists explained that the petition by Posadas lawyer, Eduardo Soto, for his clients immigration hearing to be transferred to Miami has been denied, and the hearing postponed until June 24 in El Paso, Texas, where the criminal is currently being held.
The US Attorney General handed over to the judge a thick file documenting Posadas activities, and the Sun-Sentinel newspaper stated in an editorial that the U.S. should investigate the accusations against him and bring federal charges if warranted, the panelists noted.
On August 29, there will be a hearing to clarify the criminals residence status. His lawyer, after requesting political asylum for his client, is now incongruently claiming that Posada has US residency, in spite of having lived outside the country for 28 years.
Soto himself admits that his client worked 20 years for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was a US Rangers captain, and intends to base his claims of residency on that, even though implicitly, he would then be admitting to having participated in the terrorist acts attributed to him.
On June 15, Venezuela presented the United States with a 520-page report containing evidence of the crimes committed by Posada to back the formal extradition application based on a treaty signed by both countries in 1922.
Cuban attorney Jos Pertierra, who is based in Miami, said in a telephone interview that legally, Posada does not have the right to protection under US immigration laws, and he reiterated that the terrorist is a danger to the world and to the United States itself.
Nevertheless, he cited precedents such as that of terrorist Orlando Bosch, who in spite of his criminal record, was paroled by George Bush senior when he was president, and since then Bosch has resided in Miami.
Those who helped Posada to illegally enter the United States participated in serious crimes punishable under US law, Pertierra affirmed, and compared it to someone helping Bin Laden to do the same.
The attorney noted that in the U.S, different rules are applied to Cuban Mafiosi, implicitly referring to the complicity of these with US authorities, particularly with the fraudulent help given to George W. Bush in gaining the presidency.
Andrs Gmez, president of the Antonio Maceo Brigade in the U.S, offered his testimony regarding a third demonstration by Cubans residing in Miami to demand Posadas extradition, held last Saturday and covered by television news reporters and other local media.
The panelists also reported on statements made by US politicians and members of Congress who support the terrorists extradition, as well as echoes in the international media of the International Conference against Terrorism, for Truth and Justice that was recently held in Havana.
