Internet Forum by Cuban Students about the Cuban Five
Mar. 31, 2008

Reprinted from ACN

Havana, March 31 (acn) Cuban university students will lead an internet forum to support the call for the release of the Five Cuban men unfairly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.
The Interactive Forum is scheduled for April 2 and all university students in the country and abroad have been called to participate by the Universities Network in Solidarity with The Five, reported the Juventud Rebelde newspaper.
The initiative marked the 46th anniversary of creation of the Communist Youth League and it gives continuity to the panel in favor of the Five that was held on February 13 as part of the 2008 University Congress.
The main purpose of the forum will be to discuss what Cuban university students and those in the rest of the world could do to help the release of the Five Cuban men, who were arrested for having infiltrated Miami- based anti-Cuba groups and trying to prevent criminal actions against the island.
Julian Gutierrez Alonso, the coordinator of the University Network said that the forum also seeks to clear out any doubts concerning the Five’s case.

Click here to access the Forum:

5heroes.cujae.edu.cu/foro/messages.aspx

From: www.freethefive.org/updates/CubanMedia/CMInternetForum040108.htm



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

www.freethefive.org/legalFront/LFRoberto012908.htm

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

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

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

www.projectcensored.org/Chapter6_CubanFive.pdf

- “New Website dedicated to Cuban Five’s Relatives opens”:

www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0311loscinco.htm


See also:

www.antiterroristas.cu

www.freethefive.org

www.freeforfive.org

www.freethecuban5.com

www.freethefiveny.org

www.wicuba.org




Cuba to UN: Terrorism Remains Unpunished

Mar. 19, 2008

Reprinted from Prensa Latina

United Nations, Mar 19 (Prensa Latina) Cuba demanded UN Security Council to respond or react to the terrorist actions by individuals and organizations against this nation, and to conspiracy protection or tolerance which US government grants them.
The issue was tackled by Cuban ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca before the UN, under the slogan "Amenazas a la paz y la seguridad internacionales causadas por actos terroristas" (Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts) The diplomat assured the fight against terrorism constitutes a priority for Cuba, and stressed Cuba has never allowed its territory be used for terrorist actions against any State, without exception.
Malmierca denounced years ago Cuban delegation has been regularly presenting information detailed on actions of that kind committed by individuals and organizations against their country before UN Security Council and its Committee Against Terrorism.
Cuba has also offered details on the conspiratorial protection or tolerance granted by US government to terrorists, and there is no prove that any solution has been given to it, not even to analyze the information presented.
We have came this place in more than one time to alert on the liberation of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, expressed Malmierca.
The ambassador said Posada Carriles, fairly described as the most notorious terrorist of the Western Hemisphere, was released in 2007, despite counting with enough evidence that prove he is involved in some of the most monstrous acts of the 20th century.
Vandalistic acts like the blowing-up of a Cubana Airline plane in 1976, with 73 people inside, Iran-Contras scandal and the bombs placed in Havana tourist centers in 1997.
He also referred to other person responsible for the blowing-up of the Cuban airplane Orlando Bosch, who also enjoys total freedom in Miami, and makes public statements being proud of his multiple terrorist acts against Cuba.
He added that terrorist organizations continue operating in Miami and in other cities of US, carrying out activities of recruitment, training, funds collection, guns purchase, and carrying out acts of terrorism against our country.
The document summons all States to stop organizing, urging and supporting terrorist acts perpetrated in other States or to participate in them, as well as to stop allowing organized activities in their territories in order to commit these acts.
It also requests, among other measures, to ensure all persons who participate in these type of acts be judged.
In contrast to the freedom of those confessed terrorists, the diplomat indicated that US authorities still maintain kidnapped, in high security prisons, five Cuban fighters against terrorism.
Regarding this, he stressed they were only trying with high altruism and value, to obtain data on terrorist groups settled in Miami to prevent violent acts from happening and to save lives of Cuban and US citizens.
Once more, Cuba demands the immediate liberation of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez, Malmierca stated.

www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrUN031908.htm



U.S.A: "insufficient evidence" to extradite Posada

by Jean-Guy Allard

Mar. 21, 2008

Reprinted from Granma Internacional

THERE is insufficient evidence against international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, according to what Caroline Willson, a U.S. envoy for legal affairs, has just affirmed in the United Nations, even though a U.S. immigration official stated two years ago that Posada was a threat to national security.
On March 27, 2006, Robert E. Jolicoeur, the Miami, Florida field office director for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, noted in a letter to Posada that he was not being released from custody because: "You have a history of engaging in criminal activity, associating with individuals involved in criminal activity, and participating in violent acts that indicate a disregard for the safety of the general public and a propensity for engaging in activities... that pose a risk to the national security of the United States.
"Due to your long history of criminal activity and violence in which innocent civilians were killed, your release from detention would pose a danger to both the community and the national security of the United States," Jolicieur wrote. He noted the charges brought against the Cuban-born criminal in Caracas in relation to his participation in the sabotage of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people in 1976; his arrest in Panama in 2000 for a plot to assassinate President Fidel Castro; his public admission to having organized a terrorist campaign against Havana tourist facilities in 1997, and his close relationship with other terrorists.
However, this past week, in response to questions raised by Cuba and Venezuela in the UN, Willson said a few days ago that her country had followed proceedings "consistent with international law as well as our domestic legal framework," the EFE reported.
"In democratic societies, a person cannot be tried or extradited if there is insufficient evidence that he or she committed the crime with which he or she is charged," Willson stated.
She said that after Posada illegally entered the U.S. in 2005, an immigration judge authorized his deportation, but not to Venezuela or Cuba because "because it was more likely than not" that the former CIA agent and torturer for the Venezuelan secret police "would be tortured if he were so transferred."
Willson also noted that her government has appealed a federal judge’s ruling that freed Posada from detention on immigration charges, repeating his defense lawyer’s claims of interpretation errors during an interrogation of the old criminal.
José Pertierra, an attorney representing Venezuela, has indicated on several occasions that this appeal is just a maneuver by the White House to further postpone Posada’s case, even though there is legal recourse and abundant evidence to charge the former U.S. military officer and CIA agent as a terrorist.
On March 18, Cuba and Venezuela presented a petition to the UN Security Council requesting Posada’s extradition from the United States.
Last July, William Brownsfield, the outgoing U.S. ambassador in Venezuela, told the newspaper Panorama that his government had no intention of handing over Posada to the Venezuelan justice system. "Mr. Luis Posada Carriles poses no imminent danger to anybody," Brownsfield stated.
The Venezuelan government has been waiting almost three years for a response to the extradition petition it submitted to the United States. Meanwhile, Posada, a self-confessed terrorist, torturer and murderer, has not been charged with terrorism in the United States, in violation of all the pertinent international agreements signed by Washington.
Ironically, a few days before Brownsfield’s statement, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told the Organization of American States (OAS) that the U.S. Justice Department was still investigating Posada.
Months after that affirmation, nothing new has occurred in the case of the terrorist, who remains in Miami, conspiring more than ever with his longtime accomplices.

www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrUSUN032108.htm


Serious legal questions loom for Posada

by Jay Weaver

Feb. 25, 2008

Reprinted from The Miami Herald

Luis Posada Carriles, the anti-Castro Cuban militant, celebrated his 80th birthday this month at an undisclosed location in Miami, but many serious legal and political questions about his alleged crimes as a younger man still loom as large as ever.
In New Jersey, Posada is the "target" of a federal grand jury investigation into the series of 1997 tourist-site bombings in Havana, his attorney Arturo Hernandez confirmed to The Miami Herald. Posada has long denied any involvement in the bombings.
In Washington, Posada's alleged role in the bombing of a 1976 Cuban airliner that killed 73 people is being revisited by a Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts who plans to hold congressional hearings on the matter in the spring.
And Posada's immigration status remains an issue with the Justice Deparment, which is pressing its appeal of a Texas judge's decision to dismiss an indictment that charged the Cuban with lying about his 2005 entry into the United States.
Indeed, everyone seems to have something to say about the former CIA-trained explosives expert who remains a freedom fighter in the minds of some and an international terrorist in the eyes of others.
Posada isn't talking to the media, but his attorney says the octogenarian is an innocent man in poor health who wants to spend the rest of his life in Miami among family, friends and exiles.
Perhaps Posada's most serious legal challenge is in Newark, N.J., where a federal grand jury, now in its third year, is weighing whether to indict Posada on conspiracy charges for the killing of an Italian tourist in a 1997 hotel bombing in Havana.
Justice officials won't comment, but they have a fax and other documents showing that Posada allegedly coordinated $3,200 in wire transfers from Cuban exiles in New Jersey to co-conspirators in Central America for the bombing campaign. Also, FBI agents have questioned jailed bombing recruits in Cuba and key witnesses in the United States and Central America familiar with Posada's alleged mission to disrupt the Cuban tourism industry.
One potential witness -- a notable writer who coauthored a 1998 New York Times series on Posada's history of violent activities against former Cuban leader Fidel Castro -- said she received grand jury subpoenas but has not testified before the New Jersey panel.
The series was based on her six-hour interview, most of it tape-recorded, with Posada in which he admitted to masterminding the Havana tourist-site bombings.
"They do not need me," author Ann Louise Bardach said.
Miami lawyer Thomas Julin, who represents Bardach for The New York Times, declined to comment and specifically refused to discuss whether Bardach had turned over her subpoenaed decade-old tapes of the Posada interview.
Julin told The Miami Herald that the tape matter was "still unresolved," without elaborating.
It's unclear, however, whether the next person to occupy the White House in 2009 will continue to pursue the politically sensitive case against Posada.
At least one member of Congress -- Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat -- is more than willing to enter the political fray.
But Delahunt's interest has nothing to do with the 1997 bombings. He's interested in Posada's alleged role in the bombing of a 1976 Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, including members of the Cuban national fencing team.
Posada was acquitted by a Venezuelan military tribunal. While awaiting a retrial by a civil court in Venezuela, Posada escaped from prison in 1985.
Delahunt, who declared Posada "a notorious terrorist" at a congressional hearing in November 2007, accuses the Bush administration of a double standard because it has refused to designate Posada as a terrorist.
Delahunt, annoyed by the government's lack of response to Venezuela's extradition request to try Posada, has drafted a resolution calling on the administration to urge the United Nations to create an ad hoc tribunal to prosecute him. He also plans to hold more public hearings on Capitol Hill.
"You cannot talk about a war on terror while Posada is still running around [South] Florida," said Caleb Rossiter, one of Delahunt's top aides.
But Posada has supporters in Washington, mainly Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California.
In defending Posada, Rohrabacher points out that a 1977 taped interview by a New York-based journalist reveals that he never admitted to planting the airliner bomb.
In a Jan. 30 letter to a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee, Rohrabacher said testimony by journalist Blake Fleetwood in connection with his 1977 taped interview of Posada and fellow anti-Castro militant Orlando Bosch in a Venezuelan prison was inconsistent with the reporter's own tapes.
At the November congressional hearing, Fleetwood testified that Posada talked about his history as a CIA operative, setting up a detective agency in Venezuela and conspiring with Bosch on numerous violent campaigns against the Castro government -- including the airline bombing.
Rohrabacher, in his letter, accused the journalist of implying that Posada admitted to a "personal involvement in the bombing." After the congressman reviewed a transcript of the taped prison interview, he said it revealed that Posada "actually denied any involvement when asked several times about the downing of the airliner."
Fleetwood, a former New York Times reporter who had written a major piece on the Posada-Bosch interview for another publication three decades ago, said Rohrabacher has distorted his statements.
In an e-mail to The Miami Herald, Fleetwood wrote: "There is no doubt in my mind, from what Posada told me during my interview, that Posada was deeply involved in the conspiracy that culminated in the planting of the bomb and the deaths of 73 innocent civilians."
Hernandez, Posada's attorney, denied that his client was involved in any way. He described Posada as a patriot who fought on the right side during the Cold War, volunteered in the Bay of Pigs invasion, served in the U.S. Army and devoted his life to toppling Castro.
He dismisses the allegations of Posada being a terrorist to political hyperbole.
"There are political agendas that have been propagating a view of Posada that's not supported by the facts," he said. "Since they don't have anyone else, they have to use Posada as a poster boy that there's hypocrisy at the highest levels of government.
"He's not a terrorist. He's never been a terrorist."

www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrPosadaUpdate022508.htm


- Special section about Posada Carriles:

www.granma.cu/ingles/posadacarriles.html

- 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

- Prepared Statement of Journalist Ann Louise Bardach:

foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/bar111507.htm

- FBI turned to perjury to protect Posada:

www.freethefive.org/usTerrorism/USTerrFBIPerjury012508.htm

- The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida:

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

- CIA continues to manage Miami terrorist groups:

www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/febrero/vier8/06agee.html


Other news related with CUBA:

- “MISSION MIRACLE”: Venezuela, a ray in the darkness:

www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/marzo/juev27/13milagro-i.html

- “Latin America and the Caribbean support Puerto Rico’s Independence”:

www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0331apoyo-puertorico.htm

- “Cuba studies candidate Prostate Cancer Vaccine”:

www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0331vacunacancer.htm

- “The Chinese Victory 1”:

www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/marzo/lun31/14Reflex1.html

- “The Chinese Victory 2”:

www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0401reflexionchina.htm

- “The detachment returns, undefeated”:

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art31.html

- “Cuba is a pearl in the History of Africa”:

www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/cuba/2008-03-28/cuba-is-a-pearl-in-the-history-of-africa/

- “Thirst for blood 1”:

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art56.html

- “Thirst for blood 2”:

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art57.html

- “Bush in the heavens 1”:

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art34.html

- “Bush in the heavens 2” :

www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art52.html

- “The blind persecution of CUBA”:

www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/columnists/2008-03-22/the-blind-persecution-of-cuba/

- “Freedom of Expression at the style of Reporters without Borders”:

www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/0321reporterosinfronteras.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/