The return of the prodigal son

M. H. Lagarde

After having disappeared for a few months in Central America it seems that the Cuban-American terrorist, Posada Carriles, has reappeared and is aiming to reside in the US.  To justify giving refuge to the terrorist who in 1976 blew up a Cuban airliner, the Miami press has reported that the Bush administration will welcome him into the US as part of his reward for having served in the US army during the Vietnam war. 

According to Santiago Álvarez Fernández, the lawyer who headed Carriles' defense in Panama - as he was accused of trying to assassinate Fidel Castro - a lawyer is being sought to represent the terrorist when he enters the US and to represent him before the immigration authorities (INS). 

In a press interview, Álvarez explained how the terrorist would use his prior military record as a basis to enter the US.  Posada Carriles who served under the US Army as a lieutenant in the 101 Division, during the war would use this status to seek admission into the US.  According to the lawyer he would use the fact that his wife, sons and grandsons are US citizens as grounds for entering the nation. 
 
The US owes Carriles much more than his services as a military official during the Vietnam war.  For his military records also show that he received special training in 1963 in Fort Benning, Georgia, to combat the Cuban revolution.
  
Born and nurtured as a mercenary in the laboratories of the CIA, Posada was a key man in counter-revolutionary Miami.  In Miami he played an important role in the Cuban exile terrorist organizations RECE (Cuban Representation in Exile) and CORU (Coordinator of United Revolutionary Organizations).  The last group being the principal organizer of terrorist activities aimed at defeating the Cuban government.   

Later, in 1967, Posada became a member of DISIP (Venezuela's secret police), as well as an advisor to various dictators in Latin America.  Along with Cuban-American terrorist Orlando Bosch he was convicted and jailed, in Venezuela, for the blowing up of the airliner of Cubana de Aviación  - a terrorist act that caused the deaths of 73 innocent victims.  Thanks to the help of his comrades in arms in Miami, he escaped in 1985.  After his escape the terrorist continued the work of the CIA, participating in the dirty war headed by the US in Central America in the 80's. 

In the late 90's he reappeared as the brains behind the bombings that took place in Havana; bombings that took the life of an Italian tourist.  It should be added that in November 2000 he was jailed for trying to assassinate Fidel Castro during the 10th Latin American Conference being held in Panama. 

In that terrorist assassination plot in which 9 kilos of C-4 explosives were to be detonated in the campus of the University of Panama, he counted with the participation of other Cuban-American terrorists, such as Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, Guillermo Novo Sampoll and Pedro Remón.

Four years later, thanks to the US government Posada along with the other terrorists were pardoned by then Panamanian president *Mireya Moscoso.  That Moscoso was too eager to comply with orders from Washington can be determined from a phone conversation she had with the US ambassador in Panama:  "Ambassador, good morning, this is the president to inform you that the four Cubans were pardoned last night and that three have **left our country and are on their way to Miami; the other is going to an unknown location.  So long, and please accept a hug."

The welcoming of Posada into Miami should not astonish anyone as this is the city were terrorists like Orlando Bosch are revered as heroes; seen as heroes while the US launches a crusade against terrorism;  this is a city in which five young Cubans were jailed and given excessive jail terms for being involved in a mission aimed at defending their country from the aggressions of the empire against Cuba.

While in the name of combating terrorism thousands of people suffer inhumane treatment in jails, many of them without even being tried, the Bush administration should not be parading this terrorist as a liberator.  As his lawyer has said in a state of war a veteran has the right to become a citizen of the US.  That is all that should be said for after all the ex-lieutenant from the Vietnam war has done nothing but obey orders.

Cubadebate