Posada speaks out in Miami

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Tue, May. 17, 2005

HERALD EXCLUSIVE | INTERVIEW WITH LUIS POSADA CARRILES

Posada speaks out in Miami

Exile militant Luis Posada Carriles grants his first interview since slipping into the United States in March.

BY OSCAR CORRAL AND ALFONSO CHARDY

[e-mail]


Luis Posada Carriles may be the most wanted man in Cuba and Venezuela, but on this recent afternoon, the man accused of deadly terrorism peacefully sips a peach drink, reads about Confucius and marvels at the Miami skyline from the balcony of a Brickell Key high-rise.
(snip)

Brought to this luxury condo -- just a few blocks from offices of the Department of Homeland Security -- for his first interview since sneaking into the United States in March, the anti-Castro militant said he has come to realize that the U.S. government is not looking for him. ``Now I hide a lot less. People have recognized me in the market, at the doctor's office, mostly older people.''
(snip)

During the two-hour sit-down on Wednesday, Posada:

• Maintained that he played no role in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación passenger jet in 1976 -- despite recently declassified federal documents linking him to meetings where such an attack was discussed. ``Sincerely, I didn't know anything about it.''

• Refused to confirm or deny his involvement in a string of 1997 tourist-site bombings in Cuba -- despite having admitted it previously. ``Let's leave it to history.''

• Spun an extraordinary tale of how he made it to Miami on a Greyhound bus from Houston -- saying he narrowly avoided detention when immigration officers boarded and started demanding papers from foreign nationals. 'I said, `Sir, I'm 80 years old. I forget things. Right now I don't even remember where I'm going.' ''
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11663701.htm
(Free registration is required)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Kick!

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Cuban militant denies role in airliner attack

May 17, 2005

MIAMI (AP) -- A Cuban militant in hiding while seeking asylum in the United States denied any involvement in an attack on a Cuban airliner in 1976 but was less forthcoming about a series of bombings targeting Cuban tourist sites in 1997, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Luis Posada Carriles, who is being sought by Cuba and Venezuela, gave his first interview to The Miami Herald in a surreptitious meeting at a luxury downtown condominium after arriving in Miami in March following an illegal trip through Central America.

Posada, 77, a former CIA operative and Venezuelan security official who has been bent on toppling Castro for 40 years, survived a shooting that left his face scarred in Guatemala in 1990. He is on a U.S. immigration watch list.

Posada escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while facing a retrial in the Cubana Airlines bombing that killed 73 people, and Cuban President Fidel Castro is waging a nightly television campaign demanding Posada's arrest.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_CUBAN_MILITANT_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Well at least we know that he definitely in Miami. I guess he heard the FBI aren't even interested in talking to him so it's safe to give interviews now. Didn't Bush say that if you harbor terrorists, then you are a terrorist? Pot meet kettle.

[no_to_war_economy]

3. old terrorists never die they just go to Florida

[Rose Siding]

4. "I'll tell you one thing, the bombs in hotels were very small"

He didn't do it but if he did, it wasn't so bad??? What a piece of work!

Try to imagine the string of events if Osama were kicked back and giving interviews in Havana... :grr:

''I'll tell you one thing, the bombs in hotels were very small, just intended to break windows and cause minor damage,'' Posada said.

[Mika]

5. Even more pathetic..

.. look at what this slug says (in the lead Miami Herald article)..

The Italian man who was killed ''was standing 40 meters away and he was hit by a little splinter in the neck,'' he said. ``It was bad luck that it happened. But it was just a little wound. I suspect that Cuba killed the Italian because he wasn't going to die from that little wound.''

This is one sick fuck.



Bacardi - friends of Posada & Bosch

click the pic

[AP]

12. They were meant to surprise and terrify...ergo, "terrorist."

[geek tragedy]

6. Bush is either with the US or with the terrorists.

I guess we have our answer now.

[yellowcanine]

7. WTF? That's not Jorge Posada. And why would he be in Florida?

Yanks are playing Seattle.

[JohnyCanuck]

8. What a scumbag.

During the two-hour sit-down on Wednesday, Posada:

• Maintained that he played no role in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación passenger jet in 1976 -- despite recently declassified federal documents linking him to meetings where such an attack was discussed. ``Sincerely, I didn't know anything about it.''

After the heroic "freedom fighters" planted the bomb they left the plane in Barbados. Here's an account of their actions that afternoon.

The Barbadians found that while they were in Bridgetown, in the very short time that they spent at a hotel, they only made phone calls to Caracas. In those days, there were no cell phones, you had to ask an operator who helped you. Then the Barbadian hotel had the receipts, the records of who called whom, at what time, the day and so on. There were phone calls to Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, with two different numbers in Caracas.(my emphasis /jc)

So they've just blown an airliner out of the sky killing a whole bunch of innocent civilians, they spend only an afternoon in Barbados before high tailing it out of the island and yet they have time to call both the known terror....er, excuse me, "freedom fighters" Posada and Bosch, no doubt just to tell them what a splendid time they were having in Barbados and how great the weather was in Barbados that time of year.

The other thing is that two Barbadians taxis drivers testified - one worked at the airport and had taken these two individuals from the airport, the same day the Cubana airline was sabotaged. He brought these two people to town.

<snip>

And at some moment they asked the driver not to go to the hotel but to go to the American Embassy and, at a particular moment, something struck the mind of the driver. He listened when one of the individuals signalled a building, when approaching downtown Bridgetown, and referred to the American Embassy. In Bridgetown, at this moment, there were very few embassies. The US and very few countries had a representation there. We didn't at the time. This was noted by the driver because it is rather strange that somebody who is entering the country should know this, unless he had been there before.

Then they went to the Embassy, according to this driver.

Another taxi driver, from the hotel - after the Embassy, they went to the Holiday Inn - reported that, on two occasions, on the afternoon of that day, they asked him to bring them to the American Embassy.

http://www.counterpunch.org/allard04192005.html

So in between enjoying the amenities of the local Holiday Inn, and phoning home to Posada and Bosch in Caracas, the two bombers made repeated trips to the US embassy before hauling ass out of Barbados later that same day. Wonder what that was all about.

[malaise]

9. There is a major demonstration in Havana today

I lost a friend in that Cubana crash in October 1976. She was on her way to university in Cuba to study medicine.

How can this terrorist be allowed to walk free. Damn double standards. How come CNN said less than an hour ago that he can't be found.
<edit> added sentence.

[DoNotRefill]

16. Because he wasn't convicted?

despite being tried twice?

It's funny....if you're tried and acquitted, aren't you supposed to be released?

[reformedrepub]

17. Because

They were godless commie civilians...kinda like them left wing priests and nuns in El Salvador and Nicaragua!!!! (sarcasm off)

[MrPrax]

10. The Minutemen Missed One?

So much for keeping the borders safe from 'tear-ists'

'I said, `Sir, I'm 80 years old. I forget things. Right now I don't even remember where I'm going.'

I wonder if this line works and why would the guy be so stupid as rub it into Homeland Security's face--he must confident that he is a well-protected asset.

[Supersedeas]

11. "Now I hide a lot less...." nt

[0007]

13. After watching Nightline last night and Posada 's phoney

press conference. I couldn't help but suspect that this is all a set-up
with the Bush administration for publicity to keep the Miami Cubans aroused and to piss off Castro & Chavez.

junior has no intentions of doing the right thing with this terrorist. Posada will be treated much like Orlando Bosch was with daddy senior.

[yellowcanine]

14. Damn. He looks too old to play baseball. What is Steinbrenner thinking?

[DoNotRefill]

15. did he spend 9 years in prison....

"Venezuelan courts acquitted him twice in the explosion. Posada escaped from prison in 1985 while awaiting an appeal by government prosecutors."

for a crime he was never convicted of? That's what I read somewhere....

[Hand]

18. Extradite the bastard to Cuba...

Posada al muro!