US to dismiss cocaine charges against Colombian rebel

[struggle4progress]

Source: Associated Press

By MATT APUZZO – 12 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — ... In 2005, Palmera became the first member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, extradited to face trial in the U.S. Palmera, who is also known by his nom de guerre, Simon Trinidad, was led into federal court flanked by marshals wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles ...

His first trial on terrorism and hostage-taking charges ended with a hung jury. A second jury convicted him of conspiracy but deadlocked on the other charges, which were ultimately dismissed.

Similarly, the first drug trial led to a hung jury. Then, with Palmera already in prison for 60 years on the hostage-taking conspiracy charge, the Justice Department opted to try the cocaine case again, seeking a symbolic victory for the U.S. and its drug war ally, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ...

A month later, jurors again were deadlocked. On Tuesday, prosecutors filed a short court document asking that the case be thrown out "in the interests of justice." Such requests are routinely granted ...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsMN8SPX7qL1Fu0xb-70fYjGTB3AD90GE31G0

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jsMN8SPX7qL1Fu0xb-70fYjGTB3AD90GE31G0

[Peace Patriot]

1. So, they've not only be using the justice system to "get" Democrats, they've been

using it to promote their ally, Uribe, for Oil War II: South America. There is another case of interest in this respect: U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in Florida has been pushing a trumped up case against several Venezuelans and a Uruguayan in regard to an absurd "suitcase full of money" Bush-CIA caper out of Miami. A two-Jaguars-in-the-driveway Miami "businessman" (operative) tried to take $800,000 in cash through an Argentine airport, got caught and returned to Miami, where he turned up as a state's "witness" for the Bushbot U.S. Attorney, who claims the money was intended for leftist Cristina Fernandez's presidential campaign, from Hugo Chavez. Chavez's VP pointed out that, if they had wanted to give money to Fernandez (who easily won the presidency of Argentina without any help from Chavez), they would have taken it on Chavez's official plane with diplomatic immunity the next day, when Chavez paid a state visit to Argentina--and not on a private jet subject to customs inspection. But logic did not deter the U.S. Attorney for Miami, who has charged these patsies with..."failure to report to the U.S. Attorney General as agents of a foreign government"!!?? Yup, that's his handle for interfering in what is, at worst, a South American political problem, and more than likely, a botched Bushite effort to smear both leftist governments. The caper was laughed at throughout South America, so the Bushites ratcheted it up to a "prosecution" in Miami, and are accusing the patsies of talking to their operative and trying to convince him not to implicate Chavez.

Talking to someone is now a crime in Miami, if what you are alleged to have been talking about in any way assists Hugo Chavez or the South American left. You then become "an agent of foreign government." On that basis, I could be charged--and so could many activists and bloggers--who advocate a change of U.S. policy toward Venezuela and other South American democracies. But the truth of the matter is very likely that this "suitcase full of money" story is entirely bogus, and was entirely intended to give the Miami Herald (and the NYT) something to write about.

THIS is what the Bush U.S. Attorney in Miami is using our justice system for--to score corporate news monopoly points against South American leftists.

The Bushbot U.S. Attorney is Thomas Mulvihill. He needs to be investigated. Petroleum World quotes a NYT article as follows:

"This is not the first time the United States Attorney’s office in Miami has pursued a hostile government based on the statements of people involved in an investigation. // Thomas Mulvihill, the assistant United States attorney leading the case, also accused Cuba’s Fidel Castro in the late 1980s of acting as a go-between in cocaine trafficking out of Colombia, claims that were never substantiated."

http://www.petroleumworld.com/Lag08011401.htm

The NYT article, quoted by Petroleum World, contains some interesting details about Mulvihill's allegations, but beware - the NYT 'reporter' Simon Romero is very anti-Chavez, and PW itself makes a point of distancing itself from the article.

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For background on this case and its ops, also see:
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3110

[struggle4progress]

2. US refusal to extradite Antonini Wilson to Argentina suggests some rot