CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Demand in the Philippines the freedom of the Cuban five patriots and condemned  the acquittal  of Posada Carriles.

PHILIPINES, April 21, 2011.- In a new letter sent to U.S. President, Barack Obama, the Filipino Committee pro-release of the five Cuban  heroes condemned the acquittal of the notorious international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles by a Court of El Paso, Texas, and demanded his extradition to Venezuela, in response the Bolivarian authorities claim to be judged properly by the innumerable crimes committed.

Similarly, the letter provides details of the injustice and violations that for 12 years have been committed by the U.S. authorities in the politicized, protracted process against five Cuban Antiterrorist  fighters who remain confined in the prisons of empire precisely to combat this scourge.

Based on sufficient evidence in the power of the Yankee authorities about the case and of the U.S. President prerogative  to decide the matter, the Philippine Liberation Committee of Five demanded and encouraged the  President Obama to make use of such rights and decide the immediate and unconditional release of five Cuban compatriots.

Among the elements that support this claim is the recent Amnesty International report, which contains a number of violations during this time against our five heroes by the US authorities and advocates to be released soon.

PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN-5
11 Cardinal St., Novaliches, Quezon City
Metropolitan Manila , Philippines
e-mail : parisantonio2001@yahoo.com
 
OPEN LETTER TO U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
 
                        April 17, 2011
 
His Excellency
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
White House, Washington D.C. , U.S.A.
Thru : http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
 
 
APPEAL FOR THE IMMEDIATE EXTRADITION FROM
THE U.S.A. TO VENEZUELA OF LUIS POSADA CARRILES,
AND FOR THE IMMEDIATE FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN-5
 
 
Dear President Obama :
 
Last April 8, a farcical trial was concluded in El Paso, Texas, when a leader of the terrorist war against Cuba, Luis Posada Carriles, was acquitted of migration charges filed against him. He was charged only with committing perjury during an immigration process, when he returned to Florida from Isla Mujeres in Mexico on board of the "Santrina" motorboat.
 
Not surprisingly, he returned to Florida which is the home base for the past 5 decades of his anti-Cuba operations which enjoyed the support and protection of successive US administrations. Not surprisingly too, he was not charged in the USA for his terrorist activities which are well known --- the blowing-up in mid-air of a Cubana de Aviación airliner off the coast of Barbados on October 6, 1976 (which killed all 73 innocent people on board), the bombing spree against Cuban tourist facilities in 1997, and the attempt to bomb a jam-packed stadium in Panama in 2000 where the then Cuban President Fidel Castro was scheduled to speak.
 
Luis Posada Carriles was indicted for the 1976 terrorist bombing of the Cubana de Aviacion airliner in Venezuela (where the flight originated), and he was even convicted in Panama for his 2000 bombing attempt. The US government has all the evidence of the crimes committed by Posada Carriles, many of which were also presented in court at El Paso.
 
It may be noted that since the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959, Cuba suffered bombings and sabotage of its aircrafts, ports, industries, plantations and tourist and other facilities, which were undertaken by Miami-based terrorist gangs led by Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch and others. Since 1959, these terrorist attacks killed almost 3,500 Cuban and other people, maimed more than 2,000 others, and caused incalculable damage to the Cuban economy.
 
The acquittal of Posada Carriles by the El Paso court is an additional proof of the support and protection that the US authorities have traditionally granted to this terrorist leader. This also contradicts your own administration’s professed policy of anti-terrorism. To give real weight to your anti-terrorist rhetoric, we therefore ask you to extradite Posada Carriles to Venezuela, as duly requested by the government of that country more than five years ago, and in compliance with your government’s legal obligations under relevant international covenants and UN Security Council resolutions.
 
It is glaring paradox that while Posada Carriles walks free in Florida, five Cuban anti-terrorists --- Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez --- remain unjustly imprisoned in the USA for collecting information about the terrorist plans of Posada Carriles and other emigre terrorists of Cuban origin in Florida. The Cuban-5 are suffering as political prisoners in the USA, for having fought a real war against terrorism --- for helping to prevent any further terrorist actions against Cuba and Cuban diplomatic missions and commercial offices abroad.
 
            We have written to your office repeatedly, appealing for the immediate release of the Cuban-5. We have cited the May 27, 2005, finding of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that the deprivation of liberty of the Cuban-5 was arbitrary, and had violated Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which the USA is a signatory. This finding was based on a number of grounds, including prejudicial impact of holding the trial in Miami . We have also cited the findings of Amnesty International that the Cuban-5 suffered inhumane treatment while under detention, and that the circumstances of their pre-trial detention weakened the possibilities of an adequate defense and undermined the equal balance between the prosecution and defense.
 
Although subsequently reversed by the full (en banc) Court of Appeals, a previous (August 2005) decision by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit unanimously overturned the convictions of the Cuban-5 on finding that pervasive community prejudice in Miami against the Cuban government merged with other factors to prejudice their right to a fair trial.  In June 2010, a new appeal was filed before the district (trial) court, based, in part, on newly discovered evidence that journalists who had written prejudicial articles and commentary about the case at the time of the trial were paid employees of the US government while working for anti-Cuba media outlets in the USA.
 
Hundreds of parliamentarians, numerous US and international lawyers’ organizations, outstanding academic and political personalities from around the world (including 10 Nobel laureates who were among those who filed Amicus Briefs before the US Supreme Court), and even Amnesty International which has close ties with US administrations, have called for the immediate release of the Cuban-5. Former US President Jimmy Carter, in his talks with you, had also urged the immediate release of the Cuban-5, and has made known his opinion that the trial of the Cuban-5 was very doubtful and violated standards, and that some of the restraints on their visitation were extreme.
 
Clearly, the Cuban-5 are victims of a terrible injustice. The only answer to this injustice is for your office to immediately grant amnesty and release these 5 anti-terrorist heroes who should never have been imprisoned in the first place. We therefore call upon you --- as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and also as a fellow lawyer --- to mitigate this grave injustice by immediately granting executive clemency to the Cuban-5.
 
We are hoping for your positive and immediate action on these request --- for the immediate extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela, and for the immediate release of the Cuban-5. We shall also appreciate your expeditious response.
 
Very sincerely,
 
 
ATTY. ANTONIO E. PARIS
National Chairman
 

(Cubaminrex - Cuban Embassy to the Philippines)

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