The Commission on Constitutional and Judicial Affairs of the Cuban National Assembly of the People’s Power (Cuban Parliament) denounced Wednesday violations in the case of Luis Posada Carriles, released on bail last week by a U.S. court. The Commission described the freeing of Posada Carriles by the U.S.
government as “brutal, uncivilized and premeditated.”
The parliamentarians denounced the Bush administration’s failure to extradite Posada to Venezuela as a violation of the Montreal Convention, which deals with actions taken against civil aviation by means of using bombs.
Posada Carriles is credited with the 1976 sabotage of a commercial Cuban airliner that went down near Barbados killing all 73 people on board. Posada planned the bombing from Venezuela.
With unequaled cynicism, the U.S. government defies complying with UN Security Council Resolution 1373 of the year 2001, of mandatory compliance by all nations, reported the Cuban parliamentary commission. The resolution had been passed at the request of the White House shortly after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.
The resolution was used to demand that nations act in compliance with international agreements related to the struggle against terrorism by not harboring persons known to be terrorists and assuring that those taken into custody are brought to justice.
The release of Posada Carriles not only violates what is established, but flies in the face of U.S. and world public opinion, noted the Cuban legislators. The U.S. government has only accused Posada Carriles of violating immigration laws.
The Commission further contrasted the freeing of Posada, a well-known terrorist, with the continued imprisonment of the Cuban Five, whom they said bravely fought against terrorism on U.S. soil.
The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and numerous legal and human rights groups believe it is the Cuban Five who should be free while Posada deserves to be behind bars.
The Constitutional and Judicial Affairs Commission demand that justice be forthcoming in both cases. The request calls for Luis Posada Carriles be taken to trial for his self-confessed terrorist actions, and for the Cuban Five—Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez and Ramon Labanino—to be liberated.
