Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Relations

Posada Case: the moment of truth has arrived

Jan. 15, 2007
Reprinted from Juventud Rebelde

The international media has reported that on January 11, 2007, the United States government, which for more than 18 months has been protecting international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, has been obliged to indict him on charges of fraud and lying when applying for U.S. citizenship.

The U.S. government has been forced to acknowledge that our president was right when he commented in April 2005 on the information published by the Mexican newspaper Por Esto, repeatedly charging that Posada Carriles had been in U.S. territory with total impunity for almost a month, having arrived aboard the Santrina boat from Islas Mujeres, where he had been picked up by Santiago Alvarez Fernández-Magriñá and other terrorists to be taken to the United States.

When the U.S. government was obliged to arrest him on May 17, 2005, after being in U.S. territory illegally for two months but left in peace, the terrorist wove a web of lies by saying he had entered U.S. territory via land, coming from the Mexican city of Matamoros; that he had not been in Cancún or on Islas Mujeres; and that during his transit through Mexico, he had never seen either the Santrina boat or the other terrorists, who — as our president exposed — accompanied him on his trip through Mexico to the United States.

In announcing the indictment on January 11, the U.S. government alleges that Posada engaged in fraudulent behavior and lied, because “in fact, he entered the United States by sea aboard the motor vessel “Santrina”; that he traveled to Cancun and Islas Mujeres; that he boarded the Santrina in Mexico “and traveled thereon to the United States”; and that Santiago Alvarez, Osvaldo Mitat, Rubén López Castro and José Pujol were with him aboard the Santrina during “his passage aboard that motor vessel from Mexico to the United States.”

The U.S. government often forgets that the truth has always been an essential weapon of the Cuban Revolution. Now, almost two years later, it has had no choice but to acknowledge it.

For its part and in response to Cuba’s request for an in-depth investigation of Posada Carriles’ movement through that country, the Vicente Fox government in Mexico officially informed our government on May 25, 2005 that its records did not show the terrorist’s entry into Mexican territory. It also said that the Santrina boat had arrived at Islas Mujeres on March 14, 2005 and affirmed that, after refueling, the boat had left that location with the same crew as when it arrived, without Luis Posada Carriles being among them.

In its January 11 indictment, the U.S. government makes no reference to terrorism. The U.S. government knows very well about and has all the evidence of the countless act of terrorism committed by Posada Carriles, including the mid-flight sabotage of a Cubana Aviation airliner in 1976 and the terrorist attacks on Cuban hotels in 1997, one of which killed Fabio Di Celmo, a young Italian tourist.

For the U.S. government, the only procedure in line with international treaties on terrorism to which it is party and what is established by its own legislation, would have been to describe Luis Posada Carriles from the start as a terrorist and to indict him on charges of terrorism, which would have avoided the long immigration process in El Paso, whose only objective was to protect him in order to prevent him from speaking publicly about the many secrets he knows regarding the empire’s covert and illegal actions and its links with the anti-Cuban mafia, particularly during the period in which the father of the current U.S. president was director of the CIA.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs trusts that this indictment of the terrorist Posada Carriles for minor immigration-related crimes does not become a smokescreen for giving him impunity for the serious crime of terrorism, or a pretext to continue ignoring the application for Posada Carriles’ extradition, presented on June 15, 2005 by the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for his responsibility in the destruction of a Cubana Aviation airliner, and which has yet to receive a response.

The next test for the government of President Bush will be on February 1. That day, it will have to respond to an order by Judge Philip Martínez to justify why Posada Carriles should remain in prison, in line with Section 412 of the U.S. Patriot Act, and to do so it will be obliged to admit that his release is a threat to U.S. security and to the security of the community and any other person. The moment of truth has arrived. The victims’ families are demanding justice. The Cuban people accompany them in their pain and fully support them. We will now see what action will be taken by the president who named himself the “international leader of the war on terror.”

Havana, January 15, 2007

Cuba says U.S. must charge militant for terrorism

January 15, 2007
Reprinted from Reuters

Cuba said on Monday the United States should indict Luis Posada Carriles, a militant anti-Castro exile accused in the bombing of a Cuban airliner, for terrorism instead of minor immigration charges.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. government of protecting the former CIA operative from extradition to Venezuela to face charges of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976.

A U.S. grand jury in El Paso, Texas, last week indicted Posada, 78, on seven immigration charges including one count of naturalization fraud and six counts of making false statements while seeking U.S. citizenship after he entered the country illegally in 2005.

"The U.S. government knows well, and has all the proof, about the innumerable acts of terrorism committed by Posada Carriles," the statement published by Granma, the ruling Communist Party's newspaper, said.

Havana said it hoped the immigration indictment will not become a "smoke screen to grant him impunity for the serious crime of terrorism."

The indictment may assure that Posada, who has been held without charges since May 2005, stays in custody. A federal judge had set a February deadline for his release unless legal action was taken.

Posada, who was trained by the CIA as an explosives expert in the early 1960s, has been a political hot potato for the Bush administration because U.S. foes Cuba and Venezuela consider him a terrorist for his suspected involvement in the airline bombing that killed 73 people.

They have sought to have him returned for trial but the United States has refused.

Cuba says Posada also planned bomb blasts in Havana hotels that killed an Italian tourist in 1997 and plotted to blow up Cuban President Fidel Castro during a regional summit in Panama in 2000.

Many Cuban-Americans, an important U.S. voting bloc, consider Posada a hero for his anti-Castro efforts and have urged the United States to let him go.

The U.S. government has fought attempts to release Posada but stopped short of formally calling him a terrorist, which would allow him to be held indefinitely. Seven countries have refused U.S. requests to take Posada in.

The U.S. indictment charges that Posada told immigration authorities he came into the United States overland with the help of a human smuggler when in fact he was brought in on a boat by Miami-based anti-Castro activists.

A month before his arrest in Miami, Castro said Posada had been smuggled into the United States on the motorboat Santrina owned by Miami exile Santiago Alvarez, who received a four-year prison sentence in November after pleading guilty in a Florida federal court to one charge of illegal weapons possession.

"The government of the United States has had to admit that our Commander in Chief was right," the Cuban statement said.

Declaración del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores

15 de enero de 2007
Reimprimado de Granma Diario

La prensa internacional ha informado que el día 11 de enero de 2007 el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, que ha venido protegiendo durante más de 18 meses al terrorista internacional Luis Posada Carriles, se ha visto obligado a instruirlo de cargos por fraude y haber mentido a la hora de solicitar la naturalización en los Estados Unidos.

El gobierno de los Estados Unidos se ha visto obligado a reconocer que nuestro Comandante en Jefe tenía razón cuando, en abril de 2005, al comentar la información publicada por el diario mexicano "Por Esto", denunció reiteradamente que desde hacía prácticamente un mes, Posada Carriles se hallaba, con toda impunidad, en el territorio norteamericano, al que había arribado a bordo de la embarcación Santrina, procedente de Islas Mujeres, donde había sido recogido por Santiago Álvarez Fernández-Magriñá y otros terroristas para su traslado a los Estados Unidos.

Luego de que el gobierno norteamericano se viera obligado a detenerlo el 17 de mayo de 2005, tras dos meses de permanencia ilegal, pero permitida, en el territorio de los Estados Unidos, el terrorista tejió una red de mentiras en el sentido de que había ingresado por tierra al territorio de los Estados Unidos a través de la ciudad mexicana de Matamoros, de que no había estado en Cancún ni en Islas Mujeres, de que durante su paso por México no había visto en ningún momento a la embarcación Santrina, y de que en ningún momento tampoco había visto a Santiago Álvarez y a los demás terroristas que, según fue denunciado por nuestro Comandante en Jefe, lo acompañaron en la travesía desde México a los Estados Unidos.

En la instrucción de cargos del pasado 11 de enero, el gobierno de los Estados Unidos aduce que Posada mantuvo una conducta fraudulenta y mintió, pues, en realidad, "ingresó a los Estados Unidos por mar a bordo de la embarcación Santrina" viajó a Cancún e Islas Mujeres" abordó la embarcación Santrina en México y viajó en ella a los Estados Unidos" y Santiago Álvarez, Osvaldo Mitat, Rubén López Castro y José Pujol estuvieron con él a bordo de la embarcación Santrina durante la travesía de México a los Estados Unidos".

El gobierno de los Estados Unidos con frecuencia olvida que la verdad ha sido siempre un arma fundamental de la Revolución Cubana. Hoy, casi dos años después, no ha tenido más opción que reconocerlo.

Por su parte, el gobierno de Vicente Fox en México, ante la solicitud cubana de que investigara a profundidad el tránsito por dicho país de Posada Carriles, le informó oficialmente a nuestro Gobierno el día 25 de mayo de 2005, que en sus registros no figuraba el ingreso del terrorista en el territorio mexicano. Indicaba, además, que la embarcación Santrina había arribado a Islas Mujeres el 14 de marzo de 2005 y aseguraba que dicha embarcación, después de haber sido reabastecida, había partido de dicha localidad con los mismos tripulantes que había arribado, sin que entre ellos se encontrara Luis Posada Carriles.

En la instrucción de cargos del 11 de enero el gobierno de los Estados Unidos no ha incluido mención alguna al terrorismo. El gobierno norteamericano sabe bien, y tiene todas las pruebas, de los innumerables actos terroristas cometidos por Posada Carriles, incluyendo el derribo en pleno vuelo de una aeronave de Cubana de Aviación en 1976 y los actos de terrorismo perpetrados contra hoteles cubanos en 1997, uno de los cuales costara la vida al joven turista italiano Fabio Di Celmo.

Para el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, el único camino ajustado a los tratados internacionales sobre terrorismo de los que es parte y porque está establecido por sus propias leyes, habría sido calificar a Luis Posada Carriles, desde el principio, de terrorista e instruirle cargos por terrorismo, lo que hubiera impedido el largo proceso migratorio transcurrido en El Paso, cuyo único objetivo ha sido protegerlo para evitar que haga públicos los muchos secretos que conoce acerca de las acciones encubiertas, actos ilegales y vínculos del imperio con la mafia anticubana, especialmente en el periodo en que el padre del actual Presidente de los Estados Unidos era el Director de la CIA.

El Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores espera que esta instrucción de cargos al terrorista Posada Carriles por delitos de carácter migratorio de menor entidad, no se convierta en una cortina de humo para extenderle impunidad por el grave delito de terrorismo, o en un pretexto para seguir ignorando la solicitud de extradición de Posada Carriles presentada el 15 de junio de 2005 por el Gobierno de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela por su responsabilidad en la voladura del avión de Cubana de Aviación, y sobre la cual no ha dado respuesta todavía.

La siguiente prueba para el gobierno del Presidente Bush será el próximo 1º de febrero. Ese día tendrá que responder a la orden del Juez Philip Martínez de justificar que Posada Carriles debe permanecer en prisión, de conformidad con la Sección 412 de la Ley Patriota de los Estados Unidos y para ello estará obligado a reconocer que "su liberación amenaza la seguridad nacional de los Estados Unidos o la seguridad de la comunidad o de cualquier persona". Ha llegado la hora de la verdad. Los familiares de las víctimas reclaman justicia. El pueblo cubano los acompaña en el dolor y los apoya plenamente. Veremos ahora qué hace el Presidente que se nombró a sí mismo "líder mundial de la lucha contra el terrorismo".

La Habana, 15 de enero de 2007