World>Terrorism & Security
posted September 29, 2005 at 11:30 a.m.

Venezuela accuses US of 'double standard' on terrorism

Charges come after Texas judge blocks extradition of man accused of blowing up a Cuban passenger jet in 1976.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

Venezuelan officials yesterday accused the US government of being "hypocritical" after a Texas judge blocked the extradition of terror suspect Luis Posada Carriles. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the decision by the judge to block Mr. Posada Carriles's extradiction showed the " double standard" of the US government's position on terrorism. Posada Carriles is accused of planning the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger jet that killed 73 people.

"The US government is a hypocrite in its fight against terrorism," Rangel told reporters today outside [Venezuela's] congress. "The US is manipulating justice."
Venezuela formally asked in June that Posada Carriles, who is in US custody on unrelated immigration charges, be extradited. [immigration judge William] Abbott yesterday said there was no guarantee that Posada Carriles wouldn't be tortured if he was sent to Cuba or Venezuela.

The Miami Herald reports that Judge William Abbott compared Posada Carriles to a character from a popular spy novel series.

In his decision on the case, the judge wrote that Posada was like "a character from one of Robert Ludlum's espionage thrillers, with all the plot twists and turns Ludlum is famous for." Abbott issued the ruling just hours after the government rested its case against Posada Monday. "The most heinous terrorist or mass murderer would qualify for deferral of removal if he or she could establish . . . the probability of torture in the future."


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The Venezuelan ambassador to the US was particularly upset at the charges Posada Carriles, in his 70s, would be tortured if sent back to stand trial. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which arrested him, was supposed to be arguing for his extradition. But the InterPress Service News Agency reports that Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez said DHS "virtually" collaborated with Posada Carriles by failing to contest statements by one defense witness that he would be tortured. Other current and former US officials also denounced the judge's decision.

"It's bad enough when the world knows that we're rendering suspected Islamic terrorists to countries that routinely use terror," said one State Department official. "But here we have someone who we know is a terrorist, and it's clear that we're actively protecting him from facing justice. We have zero credibility."
"The long and short of it is that we are harbouring a terrorist," agreed Wayne Smith, who headed the US Interest Section in Havana in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "This is really a total farce."

Miami's Local10.com reports, however, that Posada Carriles was " twice acquitted in military court in Venezuela of charges related to the 1976 bombing that killed 73 people when a Cuban airliner crashed off the coast of Barbados. He denies any involvement. The decision to acquit was later thrown out."

The Miami Herald also reports that Posada Carriles's supporters will now mount a campaign to free him from jail, and let him live with his family in Miami.

Posada's lawyer, Matthew Archambeault, said the government has expressed interest in sending Posada to a third country since Posada was detained in Miami in May but hasn't found a willing recipient. Archambeault said after a standard 90-day waiting period, he planned to take the case for Posada's freedom to federal court.
"In the meantime, hopefully we can have a fruitful conversation with the government to get his release, perhaps under conditions they can impose,'' Archambeault said. ``We are pleased. This is what we envisioned as going to happen from the beginning."

Reuters reports that the case has " further frayed" relations between Caracas and Washington, which were already bad. Venezuela is a top oil supplier to the US. AP reports that President Hugo Chavez says the decision showed the "cynicism of the empire," a term he uses for President Bush's government.

Posada Carriles, whom the Venezuelan government calls "the Osama bin Laden of Latin America," entered the US illegally last spring after he was freed by outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso from an eight-year prison term that followed his 2004 conviction for conspiring to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during Mr. Castro's visit to Panama in 2000. Posada Carriles went underground after his illegal entry, but was arrested on immigration charges after he gave a press conference in Miami earlier this year. He was quickly transferred to El Paso, Texas.

The National Security Archive, an independent nongovernmental research institute based at George Washington University, recently documented Posada Carriles's longtime connection with the Central Intelligence Agency and his ties to "international terrorism."

Newsday also reports that questions are being raised by some US authorities about how easily Posada Carilles was able to smuggle his way across the border and into the US.