protest at Posada trial in El Paso, Texas

On Monday, March 1, the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles goes on trial in El Paso, Texas. Posada will be tried in U.S. District court for perjury--for lying to U.S. immigration authorities about his role in the 1997 Havana hotel bombings which killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.

But the U.S. government refuses to prosecute or extradite Posada for his actual terrorist crimes, although there is ample direct evidence of his principal role in:

1) Hotel bombings in Havana 1997: Posada Carriles produced bombs, paid Salvadoran and Guatemalan mercenaries to fly to Cuba and plant bombs in Havana hotels. Fabio Di Celmo was killed by one of those bombs on Sept. 4, 1997; many others were injured. Posada later boasted to the New York Times reporters Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter of his role. Instead of perjury, he should be tried for masterminding the bombings.




2) Bombing a Cuban civilian airliner: Posada Carriles and his accomplice Orlando Bosch paid two Venezuelan mercenaries to board a Cuban airliner Oct. 6, 1976, which was headed to Cuba from Venezuela, via Guyana and Barbados. The mercenaries, Freddy Lugo and Hernan Ricardo, planted two bombs on the planes and exited in Barbados. Cubana Flight 455 exploded mid-flight, and 73 defenseless passengers and crew were killed. Venezuela filed an extradition request for Posada with the U.S. in June, 2005, shortly after he illegally entered the U.S., but both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have ignored and refused to honor the extradition order.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and other organizations are organizing an important demonstration on Monday, March 1, 8:00 am, in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse (511 E. San Antonio Ave.) in El Paso, Texas, to demand Posada's extradition to Venezuela, to face trial for 73 counts of premeditated murder.

We will also demand the immediate freedom of the Cuban Five, the five Cuban men who have been unjustly imprisoned by the United States government since Sept. 12, 1998. Their mission was working to stop the U.S.-backed terrorists like Posada, who walk the streets of Miami with complete impunity from Washington while the Cuban Five anti-terrorists are in U.S. prison, despite their life-saving mission.


http://www.freethefive.org