[NYTr] Venezuela's Lawyer Calls US Antiterrorist Policy Hypocritical
 
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 00:08:34 -0600 (CST)

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Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
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Venezuelan Lawyer Calls US Antiterrorist Policy Hypocritical

Havana, Nov 7 (acn) Attorney for Venezuala Jose Pertierra, who is
working for the extradition of Posada Carriles to Venezuela, described
as "ridiculous and hypocritical" the presentation at the last moment of
the arguments that support the appeal in the United States against
self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada for migratory crimes.

"The US Department of Justice presented a 64-page document that 
supports the appeal formerly filed against Posada for lying to 
migratory authorities (...). However, this man is an assassin. He 
should be immediately extradited to Venezuela or tried in the US as a 
terrorist, not as a liar," pointed out Pertierra.

The US government presented the official petition of appeal of Posada's 
case on June 5, 2007, but the legal arguments were not presented until 
five months later, a procedure that normally takes only 30 days.

Pertierra added that this fact "clearly shows the hypocrisy of the US 
judicial system which keeps a number of people behind bars without 
their being charged simply because they are suspected terrorists."

Those statements refer to the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters
unjustly held in US prisons. Internationally known as the Cuban Five, 
the men were arrested in 1998 for infiltrating right-wing anti-Cuba 
organizations based in Florida that had organized terrorist actions 
against the island for decades. The men were charged with "conspiracy 
to commit espionage" and punished with extremely harsh sentences, 
despite the anti-terrorist nature of their mission.

Pertierra contrasted the Five's current situation with Posada's, and 
blasted the US government protection of the self-confessed terrorist, 
who walks freely in Miami.

Judge Kathleen Cardone, from El Paso (Texas), who tried Posada as a 
liar and delivered her verdict on April 6, 2007, said the decision of 
classifying an individual as a terrorist is the task of the White 
House, not of her court.  She also criticized the misconduct of the 
government, which tried to get rid of its "political hot potato".

Cardone admitted that even if she would have punished Posada for lying 
to immigration authorities, the sentence would have not exceeded a year 
in prison, while Posada had already been in jail one and a half years.

"Even if the prosecution wins the appeal, Posada will remain free. The 
main objective of appealing in this case is delaying the procedure," 
said Pertierra to TeleSUR. He also confirmed that Venezuela will 
continue calling for extraditing Posada and prosecuting him as an 
international terrorist.

The 78-year-old Posada is an explosives expert and longtime CIA
operative. The Cuban-born, naturalized Venezuelan, participated in the 
1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, is pointed to as being behind the 1976 
bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73 people aboard;he has
confessed to organizing a string of deadly hotel bombings in Havana in
1997, and was involved in several assassination attempts against Fidel
Castro and other Cuban officials.
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