Venezuela’s Chavez: US Harboring ‘Terrorist’ Jet Bomber
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused US President George W. Bush of harboring the convicted bomber of a Cuban airliner.
“I accuse the president of the United States of protecting an international terrorist,” Chavez said.
“They have freed the father of all terrorists: the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles,” Chavez said.
Posada Carriles, a former CIA agent, was released last week from a Texas jail, though Venezuela and Cuba want him extradited in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, which crashed, killing all 73 persons aboard.
“We have asked for his extradition for more than two years. We sent them the evidence. This gentleman was in prison (for the bombing) here and he escaped,” Chavez said.
“Mr Bush: You are harboring a terrorist, which makes you a terrorist,” he said.
Chavez echoed Bush’s similar accusations after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda, which he said was “harbored” by Afghanistan’s government.
A fierce opponent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Posada Carriles was released from jail in Texas on a 350,000-dollar bond pending the May 11 start of his trial on immigration charges, and immediately flew to his wife’s home in Miami.
He was convicted in Venezuela in 1976 of masterminding the downing of the Cuban jet off Barbados, but escaped from prison in 1985.
He was sentenced to eight years’ prison in Panama in a bomb plot to assassinate Castro during an Ibero-American summit in 2000, and outgoing Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso pardoned him four years later.
He was detained by US immigration officials in May 2005 for entering the United States illegally. US authorities have refused to extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela, expressing fears he might be tortured.
© 2007 Agence France-Presse
US authorities have refused to extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela, expressing fears he might be tortured.
LOL! How can they say that now with a straight face?!?!?!
Dude, where’s my country? This is so ridiculous.
The US is the major exporter, trainer and practitioner of terrorism in the world today. This is only one of the latest of many examples of its hypocrisy.
Has the US no shame, especially after Bush, Cheney, et al authorised torture of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq?
The personnel of the 372nd Military Police Company could not have acted without expresses authorization to use torture as the military’s new modus operandi to extract “confessions” from prisoners.
America has now been so reduced that it no longer has any moral authority to criticize other nations on matters concerning human rights abuses - the US has perfected the art.
Had the US taken a page out of Venezuela’s book and stopped giving gratuitous advise to and interfering in the affairs of other nations, New Orleanians would have been better served after Katrina.
Those of us who have been following the Posada Carriles case can only express the quintessential hypocrisy of Bush harboring a known airplane bomber and assassin. Apparently terrorists are only those people you consider your enemies. He may be a terrorist, Bush could paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt as saying (instead of about dictator Somoza), but he is our terrorist.
Lovers of democracy and justice in the US need to show some courage and find effective ways of bringing to justice on our own territory ex-CIA operative scoundrels like Luis Posada Carriles with so much innocent blood on his hands and, for that matter, Osama Bin Laden. Once again, as with the connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden, the common denominator between all of the above and Luis Posada Carriles, is… yes… Dubya himself and his family in the world of offshore finance and dirty tricks, from Iran-Contra, back to the Bay of Pigs. Follow the money and the vote buying in Florida!
What can we say? Chavez is correct. The FBI has found evidence for Posada Carilles’ involvement.
When will the U.S. corporate mainstream media run with this huge story? It would seem to have all the makings of controversy, sensation, and provides a striking contrast between Bush’s rhetoric and his real actions.
Where is that “liberal” media?
Considering the number of FARC terrorists that Chavez is harboring, and his interference in the internal affairs of Bolivia, Peru, and Mexico, methinks he should whine less and butt out more.
what’s the big deal. hypocricy is america’s middle name. they give out a special pot to give to 7 citizens for medical reasons and then says that pot has no medical value in the treatment of the cancer and other diseased patients and this is just another example. we are living in a facist country heading towards communism. beware when congress overides the “posse com a totis” law and the military runs the country. the wall is being built to keep our people from leaving this country, especially when 100 million people are out of work, food and rise against this lawless government who tramples on the constitution and thinks its out of its time. remember what Gerbals(Hitler’s propoganda minister) told Hitler: “When we keep the people in fear we can do anything to them and they won’t say a word. We can take their civil rights from them, go to war and kill whoever we want and they will be too afraid not to agree with us.” that’s what this facist administration is doing now. keeping the people in fear, wanting them to believe a terrorist is going to kill them and he is there to save them. so i’m not to surprised. but the real bad thing is that the american people allow them to do it. just the other day the director ofHomeland security: that soon airport travelers will be subjected to a strip search, and then plunge gloved finger up one’s rectum to make sure they are not carrying a bomb there, as they know that terroists can now hide bombs iside their rectum. so people, all i can say is “beware before its too late,” which i’m afraid it already is. ten years from now when 100 million americans are out of work and protest and riot, only the military is big and strong enough to put down a revolt. 40,000 thousand NYPD won’t be able to handle 4 million rioters and protesters. these are the types of weapons the pentagon is having made as we speak, to knock out large pockets (hundreds of thousands) of this particular type of individual. 600 billion a year congress gives in cold cash and the ACO states yearly that the pentagon can’t account for more than a quarter of its budget. but yet these crooks get away with stealing our tax money.(over 125billion per year.) i wonder how many generals are multi-millionaires? remember “Watergate.” “Follow the money,” the snitch told Washington Post investigator, whom i won’t mention. but as far as i’m concerned, Bush, Cheney and all his administration, including Colon Powell, whom i had always respected until he bacame just another lying, cheating, politician. Bush and his crooked cronies are even worse. i feel sorry for the people that disagree with me. but what goes around, comes around and their Karma will catch up with them. and if Bush is so gun ho about fighting for a rightious cause let him send his twin daughters to Iraq to fight for a demacratic society.
Bush said “You are either with us or against us.” And now Bush must face that fact that he himself is against us. I wonder whether Bush will call in an airstrike on the White House?
For some additional examples of US-sponsored terrorism, see the wikipedia article “State terrorism by the United States.” It’s a work in progress but it has some examples with citations to reliable sources. It might also tempt some to start contributing to wikipedia information critical to an understanding of US history, government, society, past wars, etc.
I agree with Chavez. Bush ought to turn himself in at Gitmo.
It’s already been said but “FEARS he MIGHT be tortured”?
If the US had caught a left wing activist suspected of bombing no fears or maybes would be involved. If he were not dead already he would be hanging naked by his thumbs in some dark, stinking, freezing hole never to be heard from again.
Dorian is exactly right. If we could MIND OUR OWN BUSINESS the whole world would be grateful, and US citizens would be the greatest beneficiaries of all.
Any profs, students, journalists or college adminstrators among the readers?
Your colleagues could easily have been killed in that plot in Panama. The bastard planned to bomb Castro’s speech in a huge auditorium with possibly huge casualties but was apprehended thanks to Cuban counterterrorism agents.
Read the details at http://www.freethefive.org/
RedBadge April 23rd, 2007 3:22 pm
“US authorities have refused to extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela, expressing fears he might be tortured.
LOL! How can they say that now with a straight face?!?!?!
Dude, where’s my country? This is so ridiculous.”
That was funny. Just another example U.S. superiority and hypocrisy. Is it any wonder why this country has lost the respect it once had?
We Americans must pressure our congressmen/senators to IMPEACH BUSH and his top ratfaced bastards. Please write and call and tell them that’s what you want them to do, once a week til we get what we want!
Tijuanalibre. Is what you say about Chavez really true? As far as Bolivia is concerned, my feelings are that he is showing support for a country that needs it after 500 years of being ruled by an elite class.
How do you define “interfere?” Our country is involved in almost - if not all - the countries in the world. The USA is also involved and helping some of the most odious governments around the world. I really don’t see how you can use the word “interfere” when talking about Chavez’ stance or support of certain people involved in politics.
But back to the main issue which is the fact that the USA has been keeping a known terrorist from being brought before a court of law.
If you are simply anti-Chavez, then I understand your position. We all like or dislike various people. My only hope is that you are not basing your criticism of Mr. Chavez on what you hear on Fox News or have read in the papers because they rarely give their readers an objective account of this man.
Of course, there is a double standard. America can throw its “might” around, ignoring international law, morality, ethics and legality. America has always done this throughout Central and South America, installing every totalitarian dictator the area has known. Now it wants to overthrow Chavez. I’ve been to Venezuela…free education, health care, all the country’s power supplied by hydro not coal or gas, gas to fill a car tank about $1, half the country’s natural resources protected for environmental reasons…sure sounds like a “horrible place” doesn’t it? While American has none of this and spends early $450 billion on arms. That amount is greater than the combined total of all Western countries! We could learn a lesson from Venezuela.
wolfytoo,
You just don’t get it. Bush is a man of principle and Chavez is not. And the principle is that all oil everywhere belongs to US oil corporations. If people would just let that principle rule the day, everything would be peaceful, at least until Bush discovers a new principle such as that all fresh water everywhere belongs to other US corporations, and then we’ll have to have these nasty fights again until people agree with that principle too.
Tijuanalibere’s ridiculous allegations don’t warrant a reply. Don’t feed the trolls.
I disagree. By letting tijuanalibre (libre de que?) lob out the typical anti-Chavez propaganda without being called on it he or she believes that he/she has gotten by with something, put something past other readers.
I have lived in Mexico for nearly 15 years, and I am only too sadly aware of the hate campaign that was waged last summer during the presidential election–it was a scare campaign a la Karl Rove that the Mexican people bought and paid for (an obscene amount of public monies are devoted to political campaigns in Mexico) from a US consultant in election dirty tricks in which Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was said to be a danger to Mexico–and Chavez’s image as well as his voice (distorted) were used to make him the Bogey Man. Chavez did not interfere in the election, and in fact threatened to sue the PAN party (who ended up imposing their candidate) for using his image during the campaign.
Result: Mexico got a sawed off fascist who goes everywhere with army folks. I suppose the voters got what they were paid for (100 pesos was the cheap bribe the PAN gave voters in the village where I live for a vote for Calderon).
Sounds like the two most recent US elections to me.
Mexico is suffering the effects of getting the guy that probably a fair number of folks deserved.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela (where I have spent a fair amount of time and have been fortunate to be able to talk with the president), folks legitimately voted (63% of them) in December to re-elect the president they want.
It would be a big benefit for most countries in this hemisphere, quite frankly, if Chavez DID interfere in their elections.
The headline should read:
Luis Posada Carriles, convicted terrorist, released from prison by Bush administration.
True. He WAS convicted in Panama. Mireya Moscoso, outgoing president, accepted a couple of million from the Miami Mafia to pardon him.
ahh im glad im not from america. i cant believe there are such governmental and social descrepancies against smoking, alcohol, clubs and etc, yet schools with relatively well-off people get shootings and then to wrap this violent context in a pretty ribbon your president frees a criminal and fears his being tortured, while brits with families to feed havnt seen propper daylight in guantanamo bay.
wow, im actually shocked that Bush released him.
Now isn’t that a hoot, “for fear he might be tortured.” I thought Bush signed a bill on torture with a signing statement saying torture was OK. I guess George must get to decide who to torture and since he’s “the Decider” this Carriles guy is on the “Do not torture” list.
Wolfytoo and kivals—good for you.
Who’s a terrorist, Chavez, Bush, or…
Are You a Terrorist ?
Media passivity enables rollback of civil liberties
by Rachel Coen
Extra! magazine (FAIR), December 2001
On October 26, George Bush signed into law “anti-terrorism” legislation that seriously eroded civil liberties in the United States. Law enforcement’s power to conduct surveillance and secret searches has been vastly increased, legal immigrants may now be indefinitely detained, and the CIA has been authorized to resume spying on U.S. citizens. In true Orwellian style, the bill is called the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001-for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.
Among the sweeping changes implemented by the bill is the introduction of the broadly defined crime of “domestic terrorism.” Domestic terrorism is now defined in part as any activities that “involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws” and which “appear to be intended” to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or “to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.”
The legal definition of “terrorism” is crucial because the USA PATRIOT act gives law enforcement broad new powers to be used against “terrorist” individuals and groups. The American Civil Liberties Union (10/23/01) warns that this new definition will “sweep in people who engage in acts of political protest” if those acts could be deemed dangerous to human life. Actions that damage property or endanger people were already illegal-reclassifying these offenses as “terrorist” while removing judicial checks on law enforcement is a recipe for the political prosecution of dissent.
Also at risk under the new law is anyone who so much as provides lodging to a “terrorist.” If you let an activist sleep on your couch while they’re in town for a protest, and they’re later arrested for some risky civil disobedience, you could be charged with “harboring a terrorist,” a new crime that can land you in jail for 10 years.
Given that the FBI has tried to tar peaceful U.S. activists as terrorists well before September 11, such scenarios aren’t far-fetched. Globalization activists in particular have been singled out for surveillance and infiltration over the last few years. Last May, in testimony before Congress about the “Threat of Terrorism to the United States,” FBI Director Louis Freeh named “left-wing extremist groups” such as Reclaim the Streets-a group that organizes street parties-as “a potential threat” (In These Times, 8/28/01).
But the legislation’s impact will go far beyond “terrorist” groups, even as broadly as that term is now defined. Among other things, the ACLU (9/20/01) pointed out that under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the FBI already had the authority to obtain wiretaps in investigations of terrorism without showing probable cause. The new law extends this authority to ordinary criminal cases, effectively removing an important check on the FBI’s domestic surveillance efforts. “This vast expansion of power,” said the ACLU, “goes far beyond anything necessary to conduct terrorism investigations.”