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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Cuban Ex-CIA Agent Acquitted in Texas Perjury Case, Left Enraged |
| 2011-04-12 |
| An elderly Cuban former CIA operative accused of lying during a U.S. immigration hearing was acquitted on all charges Friday, with jurors taking just three hours to reach a verdict after enduring 13 weeks of often-delayed testimony. The abrupt decision ends four years of attempts by the U.S. government to convict 83-year-old Luis Posada Carriles, and means he no longer has to face the prospect of spending the final years of his life in prison, at least in the United States. For decades, Posada worked to destabilize communist governments throughout Latin America and was often supported by Washington. He is Public Enemy No. 1 in his homeland, even considered ex-President Fidel Castro's nemesis. In Havana, the government had no immediate comment to his being cleared across-the-board. Posada, who has slurred his words since being shot in the face and losing part of his tongue during a 1990 assassination attempt in Guatemala, joked softly with his defense team, then left the courthouse a free man. The defense, which called just eight witnesses over eight days, maintained Posada should have been allowed to retire a hero in Miami, where he had been living since his 2007 release from an immigration detention center, for his service to the country during the cold war. Posada participated in the doomed Bay of Pigs invasion, served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was a CIA operative until 1976. He then moved to Venezuela and served as head of that country's intelligence service. Also in 1976, he was arrested for planning the bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada was acquitted by a military tribunal, but escaped from prison while still facing a civilian trial. He helped the U.S. funnel support to Nicaraguan Contra rebels in the 1980s, and, in 2000, was arrested in Panama amid a plot to kill Castro during a summit there. He was pardoned by Panama's president in 2004 and turned up in the U.S. the following March. Cuba and Venezuela would like to try Posada for the 1997 hotel bombings or the downing of the 1976 airliner, but a U.S. immigration judge has previously ruled that he can't be sent to either country, for Jose Pertierra, the Washington-based lawyer representing Venezuela in its case against Posada sat through every day of the trial and was crestfallen after the verdict. "The theater was worth more than the evidence in this case. The evidence was strong. We heard the voice of Luis Posada saying he was the mastermind of the bombings," Pertierra said. He said Venezuela will renew its efforts to have Posada extradited to face 73 counts of first-degree murder. Speaking of theater... The U.S. tried to convict Posada in El Paso of the seven perjury and immigration fraud charges in 2007, but U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone threw that case out, chastising the government for using an immigration hearing to build a criminal case against Posada. When that ruling was overturned on appeal, prosecutors added four new charges, including those alleging obstruction of justice. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles He's a complex guy. And what you call terrorism today was fair game on both sides during the Cold War. For every bit of real evidence of his activities, there is more and greater efforts to fabricate evidence and stop him by the left, both internationally, and in the US. You mentioned his prison escape? How about imprisoning a man for eight years while Democrat prosecutors delay and appeal acquittals? How about Cuban spies working hand-in-hand with US Democrats to try and take him out? Face it, as much as Cuba tried to be a pest in this hemisphere, and wherever else Castro sent his spies, assassins and mercenaries, people like Posada kept trying to stop them, and usually with US government help. Except when Democrats tried to stop him for their commie buddies. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-04-12 13:17 |
| #4 Oh sure, so he bombed a hotel and brought down an airliner killing dozens of civilians. And then there's all those crazy rumors of sabotage and assasinations. But think about it. Say you and your buds blast a couple of Stingers off the back of your pleasure craft and what...all of sudden people are calling you a terrorist. Is that fair? That's such an ugly lable. Just remember, those were confusing times way back then. Big Red was knockin' on the back door. And don't forget, he was (and prolly still is) on the Agency's dole. So really...if you think about it...he's more like ah...ummm...a Freedom Fighter. Yeah...that's the ticket. Also, try to keep all that escaping from a US prison then sneaking back across the border only to lie immigration stuff in perspective. After all, he's a "Cold War Hero". International espionage is his craft. And, dammit, if it wasn't for his pesky illegal alien citizenship status he might even be considerd a national treasure. Hey...Libya has their al-Megrahi so why can't the US have their Posada? So yeah...what's "The Left" all jazzed up about anyway? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2011-04-12 10:53 |
| #3 This guy truly needs an rah-rah biography about how he spent his life fighting commies, and why, going into detail about how evil they were, and how some Americans supported them. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-04-12 10:18 |
| #2 Oh. I thought Left Enraged referred to Luis' state of mind when he departed the courtroom. Had the headline said Left Unhinged, I would've been less likely to be confused. But unhinged or enraged - it's all good. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-04-12 06:05 |
| #1 Anyone so hated by Fidel and Oogo (and, apparently, teh Zero) can't be all bad... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2011-04-12 01:27 |