Vol. 71/No. 21      May 28, 2007

In March 2005 Posada, who two decades earlier had escaped from a Venezuelan prison while awaiting trial for the 1976 bombing, entered the United States. After his presence was exposed by the Cuban government, U.S. authorities arrested him on relatively minor charges of lying to U.S. immigration officials.

On May 8 U.S. immigration judge Kathleen Cardone dismissed those charges and let Luis Posada Carriles walk free.

Meetings and speakouts have been held throughout Cuba to protest Washington’s refusal to extradite Posada or bring him to justice. On May 14-15, the Union of Young Communists initiated a public tribunal in Havana called “Youth accuse Luis Posada Carriles and the U.S. government.” University of Havana law students presented evidence proving Posada’s involvement in the 1976 bombing and other crimes, including his role in the 1970s as an official of the Venezuelan secret police, which tortured and killed revolutionaries in that country.

In addition to those reported below, dozens joined protests in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. In Canada, 40 gathered at an action in Toronto; and other actions took place in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Montreal.
 

A 24-year-old student at the picket line said, "This is a clear exposition of the double standard that is being applied in the so-called war on terrorism.”

"The campaign will continue here in Miami," said Andrés Gómez, director of the Antonio Maceo Brigade. That organization is a group of Cuban-Americans who support the Cuban Revolution. The protest was covered by three TV stations.
 

Demonstrators carried a large banner saying “Extradite Posada Carriles to Venezuela, End the U.S. War on Cuba.” Another banner read “Victims of Posada’s Terror,” with photos of those killed in the 1976 bombing of the Cuban airliner. They attracted the attention of people getting off work or coming to the shopping center.

They also leafleted to publicize the Seattle premiere of The Trial—The Untold Story of the Cuban Five, a documentary produced by the Cuban film institute ICAIC. The June 13 event, to be held at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, will promote the campaign to free five Cuban revolutionaries unjustly imprisoned in the United States.

In 1998 the FBI arrested the Cuban Five—Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, René González, Gerardo Hernández, and Ramón Labañino—on phony charges including “conspiracy to commit espionage.” They were put in solitary confinement, convicted after a flagrantly unfair trial, and given long prison terms—three of them life sentences. Their “crime” was helping to defend Cuba’s sovereignty by reporting on the activities of right-wing Cuban groups and individuals who have organized violent assaults on Cuba with the knowledge and complicity of U.S. authorities.
 

"He was held on minor immigration charges and even those were dropped. It's a complete maneuver by the U.S. government to free this man. The people of the world are outraged," Gloria LaRiva of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, told the media.

After the picket line, protesters joined others for a showing of the Venezuelan documentary Posada Carriles: Made in USA.
 
 
Related articles:
N.Y.: Hunter College students discuss defense of Cuban Five
Imperialist plunder of Latin America is theme of Havana conference to fight U.S. 'free trade' pacts  
 
 
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