Cuban exile suspected in bombings in U.S., source says

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wed, Mar. 30, 2005

Cuban exile suspected in bombings in U.S., source says

BY ELAINE DE VALLE AND ALFONSO CHARDY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

MIAMI - (KRT) - Luis Posada Carriles, the legendary Cuban exile operative accused of blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976 and trying to kill Fidel Castro in 2000, is believed to have secretly slipped into South Florida after years of hiding abroad, a federal source said Wednesday.

The source said he understands that Posada, 77, has been in the area for about a week and has made contact with government authorities.

The source said he may be trying to retain a local attorney, but didn't explain why. One possibility might be to help ensure Posada wouldn't be extradited to Venezuela, where he escaped from prison in 1985 while facing charges related to the airliner bombing.

The Cuban-born militant, however, does not face any charges in the United States.
(snip/...)

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11270798.htm
(Free registration is required)

[ima_sinnic]

1. tried to blow up Castro? probably has a red-carpet room reserved

at the White House. "Does not face any charges in the U.S."--no, he's more likely to be treated like a hero than a terrorist.

[MaineDem]

2. That's a poorly written headline

I was wondering what bombings in the US he was suspected of commiting.

[antigone382]

20. Yeah, that's what my first thought was as well.

Of course, maybe they did it that way on purpose to get more people to read the article.

[Judi Lynn]

3. The Miami Herald's version of the story:Activist emerged from shadows

Posted on Thu, Mar. 31, 2005




WAR AGAINST CASTRO


Activist emerged from shadows

A half a dozen terror bombings in Havana returned longtime anti-Castro activist Luís Posada Carriles to the limelight in 1997.

BY NANCY SAN MARTIN

[e-mail]


Luís Posada Carriles was just a name on a list of aged anti-Castro militants until a Salvadoran man confessed in 1997 to the first terror bombings inside Cuba in decades.

Posada, then about 69, made front pages around the world when he admitted to masterminding the blasts and hinted the plot had been financed by Jorge Mas Canosa, the late founder of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation.

He later denied the Mas Canosa connection -- claiming he had lied to throw the blame to a dead person -- and any role in the bombings of Havana tourist spots that killed an Italian-Canadian tourist and wounded a dozen other persons.

The blasts -- the first since the mid 1960s that Cubans could remember -- were apparently designed to hurt Cuba's tourism industry, but sparked widespread rumors that they were the work of an anti-Castro faction within the communist island's security services.

Raúl Ernesto Cruz León, the then 27-year-old who set off many of the bombs, was captured in 1997, tried in 1999 and sentenced to death by firing squad, although the government has now held off his execution for more than six years.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11272315.htm
(Free registration is required)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prominent Anti-Castro Exile May Be In Miami Area
Luis Posada Reportedly In South Florida

POSTED: 5:22 pm EST March 30, 2005

MIAMI -- Local 10 has learned that one of Cuba's most well known exiles is at an undisclosed location in South Florida.


Luis Posada, anti-Castro activist, in 1985 file photo

Sources tell Local 10 that Luis Posada, who has waged a decades-long battle to topple Fidel Castro, is here while lawyers try to negotiate his right to live out his life here.

There are no federal warrants out for Posada, but questions about his past may determine if he is allowed to stay.

Luis Posada Carriles, according to a source, came into the United States from Mexico and has been in the Miami area for less then a week.

Posada, now in his 70s, is a militant foe of Castro. He openly admits to using violence to try to bring down the Cuban leader, including, he claims, a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots.
(snip/...)

http://www.local10.com/news/4332117/detail.html

The photo accompanying the article above does him an injustice. Here's a more recent photo of the old bomber....

[Mika]

4. Important point within the article

Underlining the importance of the case, Cuba's Foreign Ministry invited all foreign diplomats in Havana to attend Cruz Leon's trial and issued visas to scores of U.S., Salvadoran and Guatemalan journalists to report on the unusually detailed and public proceedings that included presentations by forensic experts using computers, videos and laser pointers.

But, according to many Cubaphobic "experts", Castro singlehandedly locks up people without trials and throws away the keys.

Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that
this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that Castro did this Castro did that

click the pic

[Judi Lynn]

7. Getting the Herald's version of history is always amusing, isn't it?

They claimed the hotel bombings were the first ones in decades. They meant to say they were the first ones they are willing to admit. Isn't that crazy? They should go ask the Cubans!

I remember a shoe factory very clearly, and an assault on the tomb holding the remains of Che Guevara, restaurants, discoteques, etc., etc. How are we to explain things like that? Jeez.

Thanks for pointing out there was an open invitation to attend the trial of this man, and also a man and woman team of bombers similarly employed.

Here are some photos of the trial. It would appear some journalists from other places threw all caution to the wind and took Cuba up on its invitation, anyway:



You know the CANF had finally "arrived" when they stopped using Cuban "exiles" to do the "hands-on" work and could afford to hire poor flunkies from Central American to start doing their dirty work!

On edit: It's also important to point out that Luis Posada Carriles worked for the C.I.A. for years, as well. At some point he was shot in the jaw, which really screwed up his face.

[Say_What]

14. Love it!!!

Castro did this, Castro did that....

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[MisterP]

21. he looks like Pinochet, esp. the 1st pic

old fascists never die, they just fade away in hand-and-foot luxury

[hector459]

5. Isn't this guy a terrorist? Why doesn't he face charges in the US?

I predict that this will be another incident that will leave the US with egg on its face and further alienate us from S. Americans and the rest of the world.

[Say_What]

18. In Miami?? Are you kidding?? Miami is Terrorists Cental for the USSA

Poppy Bush pardoned Orlando Bosch Avila in 1992 and Miami made a *day* for him for being a *freedom fighter*. Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch Avila blew up the Cubana airliner and killed all aboard. Maybe Shrub Bush has plans of pardoning Posada Carriles.

<clips>

October 19, 1976 A bomb destroys a Cubana Airlines flight from Georgetown, Guyana to Havana shortly after takeoff from Barbados, killing all 73 aboard. Among the dead are the teenaged members of Cuba's national fencing team.

November, 1976 Authorities in Venezuela charge Posada, Orlando Bosch and two Venezuelans in connection with the bombing. All four are immediately jailed.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/index-posada.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. He's in an undisclosed location?

LOL, just look under Orlando Bosch's bed. I'm sure you'll find him there.

[Rose Siding]

8. Prominent Anti-Castro Exile May Be In Miami Area (Posada seeks asylum)

Local 10 has learned that one of Cuba's most well known exiles is at an undisclosed location in South Florida.

Sources tell Local 10 that Luis Posada, who has waged a decades-long battle to topple Fidel Castro, is here while lawyers try to negotiate his right to live out his life here.
....
Posada, now in his 70s, is a militant foe of Castro. He openly admits to using violence to try to bring down the Cuban leader, including, he claims, a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots.

Posada is also believed to have been behind the bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner in 1976.

Insiders say Posada was trained by the CIA and took part in the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion.
....
Recently, Posada is believed to have been in hiding in Honduras after Panama's president pardoned him in connection with a plot to kill Castro in 2000.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says there are rumors about Posada being here, but a spokesperson would only say there is no official information at this point.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/wplg/20050331/lo_wplg/2649978

[Demit]

9. "Nation harboring terrorists? What nations harboring terrorists?"

Oh, US? That's different.

[Rose Siding]

10. Havana paper: Terrorist Posada Carriles takes refuge in Miami

THE author of the mid-flight explosion of a Cuban airline in 1976, Luis Posada Carriles, turned himself in to US immigration authorities in Miami on March 29, according to media sources in that city.

The Cuban terrorist, who presumably had been staying at an unknown location, was in Miami negotiating his surrender to the US immigration authorities for at least five days, according to local Miami television station Channel 41 and the EFE news agency, both of which cited “extrajudicial sources,” reproduced on the website IBLNEWS.

According to the so-called Cuban Adjustment Act, imposed by the US administration, Cubans who touch US land – even if they do so illegally, and without regard to whether they have a criminal past – may remain in the country and obtain residency after one year.

Posada Carriles, together with fellow terrorists Guillermo Novo, Pedro Remón and Gaspar Jiménez, were detained in November of 2000 in Panama after Cuban President Fidel Castro exposed and provided evidence of a plot to assassinate him during the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama’s capital.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/marzo/jue31/14terr.html

[Rose Siding]

11. He has friends in high places

THE Cuban American National Foundation is well-represented on the GOP’s list of presidential electors from Florida by CANF’s treasurer, Feliciano M. Foyo, who happens to be a good friend of Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Foyo has another friend named Luis Posada Carriles, one of the most notorious terrorists among Cuban expatriates. In an autobiography published in Honduras in 1994, Posada names Feliciano Foyo as one of his financial backers. What does it mean to be one of Posada’s financiers?
.....
In June 1976, while George H. W. Bush (the elder) was head of the CIA, a CIA operative, Cuban expatriate Orlando Bosch, founded and led the Commanders of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU). Posada was one of those "commanders." As revealed later in FBI and CIA documents, CORU was soon involved in more than 50 bombings and, quite likely, political assassinations. Venezuelans and U.S. authorities reported that a network of terrorists carried out a "vast" number of attacks in seven countries against Cuba and against countries and individuals considered friendly to Cuba. This reign of terror culminated in October 1976 when a Cubana passenger plane was blown up after it took off from Barbados headed for Cuba, killing all 73 people aboard, including 57 Cubans.
.....
According to Posada himself, his guards were bribed with money from Miami. One of the couriers of such financing was Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, one of the terrorists now held in Panama. From Venezuela, Cuban expatriate Félix Rodríguez, another notorious terrorist, took Posada to El Salvador where Rodríguez was working with Col. Oliver North in supplying Contras against the Sandinistas government of Nicaragua. The exposure of that operation led to the Iran-Contra hearings of 1987. At those hearings before Congress, Rodríguez was asked about "Ramón Medina." He replied that Medina was an alias in El Salvador for Posada, a "good friend of mine," an "honorable man." He testified that he brought Posada to El Salvador from Venezuela, claiming that Posada "deserved to be free." Not another question was asked about Posada. Instead Rodríguez was complimented on his role by Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fl), one of his questioners. Rep. Peter Rodino (D-NJ) also told him that we all appreciate his fighting against communism.

Two years later, in a speech on the Senate floor, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said the American people "deserve a full accounting of Bush and the vice president’s office and its knowledge of Luis Posada’s role in the secret contra supply operation." In his testimony before Congress, Rodríguez had bragged about meeting with Vice President Bush (he showed Bush a picture of himself with captive Che Guevara in the hours before Che was executed). Senator Harkin wondered "why Bush never bothered to use his good offices to investigate charges of Posada’s links with the supply operation and Félix Rodríguez even after the press reported them in late 1986."

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JBFranklins/granma.htm

[Say_What]

15. Ex-CIA reported to Felix Rodriguez recently on Miami tv threatening

to assassinate Hugo Chavez.

:argh:
:argh:
:argh:

[Mika]

19. Hey Rose S, Feliciano Foyo was a Florida Bush elector.

Amazing, but true. I remember starting a DU thread on it during the buildup to the 2004 theft of the election.

:puke:

[NNN0LHI]

12. Wonder if this was the guy John Doe #2 with McVeigh? n/t

[gulfcoastliberal]

13. Scumbag ex-Cuban mafia

What a bunch of sleazy, disgusting gangsters. Total low life criminals.

[Say_What]

16. NYT: Key Cuba Foe Claims Exiles' Backing (background)

<clips>

MIAMI -- A Cuban exile who has waged a campaign of bombings and assassination attempts aimed at toppling Fidel Castro says that his efforts were supported financially for more than a decade by the Cuban-American leaders of one of America's most influential lobbying groups.

The exile, Luis Posada Carriles, said he organized a wave of bombings in Cuba last year at hotels, restaurants and discothèques, killing an Italian tourist and alarming the Cuban Government. Posada was schooled in demolition and guerrilla warfare by the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960's.

In a series of tape-recorded interviews at a walled Caribbean compound, Posada said the hotel bombings and other operations had been supported by leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation. Its founder and head, Jorge Mas Canosa, who died last year, was embraced at the White House by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

A powerful force in both Florida and national elections, and a prodigious campaign donor, Mas played a decisive role in persuading Clinton to change his mind and follow a course of sanctions and isolation against Castro's Cuba.

Although the tax-exempt foundation has declared that it seeks to bring down Cuba's Communist Government solely through peaceful means, Posada said leaders of the foundation discreetly financed his operations. Mas personally supervised the flow of money and logistical support, he said.

"Jorge controlled everything," Posada said. "Whenever I needed money, he said to give me $5,000, give me $10,000, give me $15,000, and they sent it to me."

Over the years, Posada estimated, Mas sent him more than $200,000. "He never said, 'This is from the foundation,' " Posada recalled. Rather, he said with a chuckle, the money arrived with the message, "This is for the church."

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071298cuba-plot.html

[denverbill]

17. New headline: Admitted terrorist welcomed to US by Bush family.

Oh wait, the only terrorism we oppose is that committed against us. If it's committed against other countries, we don't give a shit.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Update to story: Asylum to be sought for Cuban militant

Posted on Fri, Apr. 01, 2005

Asylum to be sought for Cuban militant

A close Miami associate of elusive Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles has begun hiring attorneys to represent his friend if and when he's ready to emerge from hiding.

BY ELAINE DE VALLE AND ALFONSO CHARDY

[e-mail]

A Coral Gables immigration attorney hired to represent Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles said Thursday he plans to ask the Department of Homeland Security for asylum and parole for his client so he can live in the United States without fear of extradition.

Attorney Eduardo Soto said he expects a tough battle on behalf of the controversial 77-year-old -- hailed by some as an anti-Castro icon, but wanted by two countries as a terrorism suspect. Posada, thought to be in hiding now in South Florida, has been accused of blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976 when he lived in Venezuela and trying to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000 when he visited Panama.

''I anticipate a huge struggle here, both on the immigration front and in other matters,'' Soto said, referring to the possibility that Venezuela may seek Posada's extradition as a result of his 1985 escape from a prison where he was held in connection with the airliner bombing.

As Posada's legal team began taking shape Thursday, the Castro government signaled that it plans to use Posada's reported presence in Miami as the basis for stepped-up criticism of the United States.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11282280.htm
(Free registration is required)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LUIS POSADA CARRILES AND THE NEW YORK TIMES »
April 22, 2004
LUIS POSADA CARRILES
Posted by David Peterson at April 22, 2004 04:25 PM
A Panama City court on Tuesday (April 20) sentenced the notorious Cuban expatriate and state-sponsored (or international) terrorist kingpin---Don't you just love using the kind of words that American mainstream media reports reserve, typically, for official enemies only?---Luis Posada Carriles to eight years in prison. Four others were sentenced along with Posada.

As it turned out, the sentencing covered, NOT Posada's role in a plot to blow up the head of the Cuban state while he attended a political summit in Panama in November, 2000, but for his role in "endangering public safety and falsifying documents," in Associated Press's rendition of the verdict. ("Anti-Castro Cubans sentenced in Panama; Cuba claimed plot to kill Castro," April 20---see below.)

According to Granma International, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs was "forcibly struck by the fact that the acting judge has decided---as he literally states in the text of the sentence pronounced---that 'the charges for the crime of illegal association with criminal intent and possession of explosives are declared null'. That decision thwarts the possibility of the terrorists being punished for the most serious crimes, which were moreover completely proven during the trial proceedings" (April 21, 2004).

Notice that the New York Times has yet to publish one word about the Posada verdict---an intriguing case of the cat-got-the-Times's-tongue, since it was the Times that, back in July, 1998, reported in a front-page expose that "A Cuban exile who has waged a campaign of bombings and assassination attempts aimed at toppling Fidel Castro says that his efforts were supported financially for more than a decade by the Cuban-American leaders of one of America's most influential lobbying groups." (Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rother, "A BOMBERS TALE," July 12-13, 1998.---I'll reproduce this series in a separate ZNet BLOB. Along with some of the Times's desperate but humorous efforts to back down from its own expose.)

As a matter of fact, aside from the Miami Herald, and a passing 165-word "World In Brief" blurb in the Washington Post, none of the major American mainstream dailies has published anything on this verdict at all.
(snip/...)

http://blog.zmag.org/rocinante/archives/000236.html



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted on Sun, Aug. 29, 2004




HONDURAS


Exile foe of Castro being sought in Honduras

Luis Posada Carriles, freed from a Panama prison and accused by the Cuban government of being a terrorist, has sneaked into Honduras, officials there said.

BY JUAN O. TAMAYO

[e-mail]


Fugitive Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, accused by Havana of multiple terror attacks, sneaked into Honduras using an altered U.S. passport after he was freed from a Panama prison, Honduran officials said Saturday.

A Honduran immigration worker at the airport in the northern city of San Pedro Sula confirmed that a known photograph of Posada matched a man who landed there Thursday, the officials said.

''Based on that identification, we believe Posada did enter Honduras, and we have many teams out looking for him,'' said a top government official who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of his job.

Posada, 76, is a virtual icon to some exiles committed to toppling Cuban President Fidel Castro by force and is linked to a lengthy string of plots to kill Castro or bomb Cuban targets, including an airliner and Havana tourist spots. He was once branded by Castro as ``the worst terrorist in the hemisphere.''
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/9526031.htm
(Free registration is required)