Killer Lives Happily Ever After, In Miami
by Vivien Lesnik Weisman
Apr. 27, 2007
Reprinted from Huffingon Post
Killer lives happily ever after, in Miami of course.
In my documentary film, The Man of Two Havanas, my father, Max Lesnik, says, "Miami is like a hell where everything is inverted, murder is characterized as heroic, acts of terrorism as acts of heroism..."
He is referring to Luis Posada Carriles, who is not in the news today. He was not in the news today, nor was he in the news last Thursday when he was released from jail and whisked to Miami. However, he was in the news in Cuba because he masterminded the downing of a Cuban jetliner killing 72 innocents including the entire Cuban fencing team. This was the first act of airline terrorism in our hemisphere. The very first, I promise. Check it out...
So why was Luis Posada released rather than held under the provisions of the Patriot Act? Isn't that what is for? If you sneeze in Kabul, you might just find yourself in Guantanamo, if you're lucky... If not, in an underground cell in the outskirts of Cairo. But if you are Luis Posada, the darling of the right wing Cuban-American Congresspersons from Florida, trained and coddled by the CIA, then perhaps 72 dead way back in 1976 is just not enough to invoke The Patriot Act.
Well then, how about his most recent charge? Luis Posada waltzed into Miami after having been pardoned by the outgoing president of Panama, who coincidentally, summers in Key Biscayne; where the Cuban-American right wing elite meet and greet presidents and skillfully broker deals on behalf of their own.
But wait, what was the charge in Panama? Wasn't he just trying to kill Fidel Castro, communist anti-American thorn in our side for 47 years and counting? Well, yes, kind of... in fact, he was attempting to blow up a University auditorium where Castro was scheduled to speak to a packed house. Authorities confiscated 200 pounds of C-4 plastic explosives. For those of you not in the know, 200 pounds of C-4 would have blown the auditorium to smithereens and sent hundreds of Panamanian students to their deaths.
But this too, is not enough for the Bush administration to invoke the provisions of The Patriot Act. After all, its not like they were American college students, right?
The Bush Administration wants Luis Posada to just go away. He's an embarrassment and shows up "The War on Terror" for what it is- a political tool. The Patriot Act is applied selectively. It is liberally applied to our enemies and conveniently overlooked for our friends. This double standard is shown in high relief for all the world to see. But no one is seeing because the mainstream media has fallen silent on the case of Luis Posada Carriles.
With shootings on our own campuses by gun wielding kids on anti-depressants, who cares about a couple of hundred Panamanian students, let alone a couple of dozen Cuban fencers?
Nope, case closed. Nothing to see here folks. This story just has no legs. And because of this, Luis Posada Carriles will soon be walking around Miami where he belongs, a hero, for all the world to see.
The Man of Two Havanas is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City this week. From the film festival program:
* The Man of Two Havanas, a documentary directed by Vivien Lesnik Weisman. (U.S.A.) – World Premiere. Growing up in Miami, the director witnessed drive-by shootings and death threats directed toward her father, a former friend of Fidel Castro and opponent of the embargo. Using never-before-heard CIA audiotapes and fascinating interviews with her father, Weisman links his past and present in an eye-opening film that's sure to be talked about. In Spanish and English.
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