The case of the Cuban Five, one of the Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006-2007

Read the full article in:

www.projectcensored.org/Chapter6_CubanFive.pdf



Posada Carriles Missing from Most Wanted List

Code Pink* urges Justice Department to act.

JUAN ANTONIO BORREGO AND CALIXTO N. LLANES, special correspondents

CARACAS.— When US government began posting photos of the most sought after terrorists in 20 cities, including Miami, earlier this year, the anti-war organization Code Pink called the FBI to ask if Luis Posada Carriles was on the list.
"No. He was on the list, but not anymore," was the cynical response from the agent, noted Medea Benjamin, leader of the feminist group founded in November 2002 to oppose the idea of the US president to fight violence with more violence.
"We see that the Bush administration is looking in far off lands for terrorists: in Afghanistan, in Pakistan. However, there are many living peacefully in our own country. Posada Carriles is one case and he should be the most sought after. For that reason when we learned that he wasn’t on the list we decided to launch a campaign to put him where he belongs, on trial in the United States or sent to Venezuela as provided in the valid extradition treaty between the two countries."

We understand that the campaign began in Miami?

M.B.- Yes, on January 12 of this year, but despite assurances from the police and FBI that our safety would be guaranteed, we were attacked by violent Posada supporters in front of the Versalles Restaurant. First they attacked our car and later, the following day, they threw eggs, water bottles and spit on us… We were a group of six women and they were 300, mostly men.
We are going to demonstrate again on February 9 and hope that the Miami authorities comply with their duty, because there are people there that have no respect for the US Constitution nor our right to launch this campaign.

Has your organization taken any legal action against Posada Carriles?

One of the reasons why I’m here in Venezuela is to speak with the people responsible for the extradition request. They already gave us a copy of the petition and with this we are going to knock on many doors, for example the Justice Department, Congress and international organizations as well.
Once a campaign like this begins and you see the injustices that surround the case, you realize that we are just at the beginning, but we are going to steadfastly continue educating people because the great majority doesn’t know who Posada Carriles is nor have any idea of his dirty history. In the process I believe many things are going to come to light: like his entire history with the CIA, and all the ties with the Bush family.

Is Code Pink aware of the case of the Cuban Five?

It’s a tremendous contradiction that five people that were precisely trying to prevent terrorism are in jail and Posada Carriles continues free. He is responsible for the death of 73 persons on a Cubana Airlines flight and also for the death of an Italian tourist at a Havana hotel and many other cases. In Venezuela I have met with several victims of the tortures of Luis Posada when he worked for the DISIP [secret police].

So these are two cases that the US society doesn’t know enough about?

The case of the Cuban Five is incredible, but we also see those in Guantanamo, and the tortures at Abu Ghraib, in Iraq. The Bush administration is full of examples of violations of human rights and international laws. We US citizens must not only continue struggling to change the politics of the United States, of those that are in the White House, of those in Congress, but also so that those responsible for terrorist acts be imprisoned.

*The name Code Pink was adopted by the group as an anti-war reply to the system of codes adopted by the US government (yellow, orange, red…) in its supposed fight against terrorism.


www.codepink4peace.org

www.codepink4peace.org/article.php

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art14.html



Other news related with the Cuban Five:


- Prepared Statement of Journalist Ann Louise Bardach:

foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/bar111507.htm

- The Five Cuban Prisoners - Defending Against Terrorism (Philip Agee):

www.freethefive.org/updates/IntlMedia/IMAgee112007.htm

- Luis Posada Carriles and the Bombing of Cubana Flight CU-455 (Peter Kornbluh):

foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/kor111507.htm

- Testimony for Hearing before Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight (Blake Fleetwood):

foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/fle111507.htm

- U.S./Cuba: Justice Not So Blind in Politically Charged Cases:

www.ipsnews.net/print.asp

- The case of the Cuban Five: Where we come from, where we go from here:

www.freethefive.org/legalFront/LFRoberto012908.htm

- FBI turned to perjury to protect Posada:

www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrFBIPerjury012508.htm

- Former Panamanian Officials on Trial for Release of Posada Carriles:

www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0108posadacarriles.htm

- The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida:

www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/14/cuba/print.html



More:

www.antiterroristas.cu

www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrDelahuntHearing111507.htm

www.freethefive.org

www.granma.cu/miami5/ingles/index.html

www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/

www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20071115/index.htm

www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv

www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm



In Great Britain and Ireland:

www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/

www.ratb.org.uk/

www.cubansarecoming.org/

www.cubasol-manch.org.uk/

www.cymru-cuba.cjb.net/

www.cubasupport.com/