General Discussion

malaise

(269,057 posts) Fri Jul 18, 2014, 08:22 PM Jul 2014

From WikiLeaks -30 cables relating to the Cubana Flight 455 which crashed on 6/10/ 1976

http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/project-k-plus-d/303/cubana-de-aviacion-flight-455-airliner-crash-6-10-1976-plusd/18994/
<snip>
1. PRIME MINISTER BURNHAM CALLED ME AT ABOUT
8:30 THIS MORNING (OCT 7) IN A SOMEWHAT
EMOTIONAL STATE TO COMPLAIN THAT THE ERSTWHILE
"ALLIES" OF THE UNITED STATES, THE CUBAN EXILES,
HAD SABOTAGED THE CUBAN AIRLINES PLANE YESTERDAY
(OCTOBER 6) WHICH HAD CRASHED NEAR BRIDGETOWN. I
FIRMLY REJECTED ANY SUGGESTION THAT THE UNITED
STATES WAS LINKED TO OR HAD ANY SYMPATHY FOR
TERRORIST ACTIONS. HE CONCLUDED THE CONVERSATION
BY SAYING HE WOULD CALL ME LATER.

2. BURNHAM CALLED AGAIN AT 10:30 AM TO INVITE
ME TO HIS GEORGETOWN HOME. WHEN I ARRIVED, HE
GREETED ME GRAVELY BUT CIVILLY, ASKED ME TO SIT
DOWN AND THEN ASKED "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"
SINCE IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION, I WAITED,
THEN TOOK NOTES AS HE TALKED. HE SAID, "GUYANA IS A
FRIEND OF THE UNITED STATES. GUYANA IS ALSO A
FRIEND OF CUBA. BUT IF THE UNITED STATES CONTINUES
TO HOST TERRORISTS, OUR MORAL SYMPATHY GOES TO
CUBA. WE DO NOT WANT TO GET MIXED UP IN A
UNITED STATES/CUBAN DISAGREEMENT. MORAL QUESTIONS
DO NOT DICTATE THE DECISIONS OF GOVERNMENT. IF
THIS SORT OF THING CONTINUES, SENTIMENT THROUGHOUT
THE CARIBBEAN WILL TURN STRONGLY AGAINST THE UNITED
STATES. TWELVE GUYANESE DIED IN THAT CRASH. SIX
OF THEM WERE STUDENTS. ONE WAS A NINE YEAR OLD
CHILD. GROWN MEN WERE IN THIS OFFICE THIS MORNING
CRYING, DEMANDING THAT I DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE
DEATHS OF THEIR CHILDREN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_de_Aviaci%C3%B3n_Flight_455
<snip>
Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 was a Cuban flight from Barbados to Jamaica that was brought down on October 6, 1976 by a bomb attack. All 78 people on board the Douglas DC-8 aircraft were killed. Two time bombs were used, variously described as dynamite or C-4.

Several CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles and members of the Venezuelan secret police DISIP were implicated by the evidence. Political complications quickly arose when Cuba accused the US government of being an accomplice to the attack. CIA documents released in 2005 indicate that the agency "had concrete advance intelligence, as early as June 1976, on plans by Cuban exile terrorist groups to bomb a Cubana airliner." Former CIA operative Posada Carriles denies involvement but provides many details of the incident in his book "Caminos del Guerrero" (Way of the Warrior).[1][2]

Four men were arrested in connection with the bombing, and a trial was held in Venezuela. Freddy Lugo and Hernán Ricardo Lozano were each sentenced to 20-year prison terms. Orlando Bosch was acquitted and later moved to Miami, Florida, where he lived until his death on April 27, 2011. Luis Posada Carriles was held for eight years while awaiting a final sentence but eventually fled. He later entered the United States, where he was held on charges of entering the country illegally, but was released on April 19, 2007.

--------------------------------
Still waiting for justice - one of those passengers was a friend of mine on her way to study medicine in Havana. I don't plan to forget.

There are no saints - not one!