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Terrorist Posada Carriles Acquitted of All Charges.

CUBA, April 10th, 2011.- The over three month-trial against terrorist Luis Posada Carriles became a mockery of impartiality on Friday, after the jury in El Paso, Texas, found him not guilty of 11 charges for lying and obstructing justice.

At the Round Table show aired by Cuban radio and television, it was known that, in spite of overwhelming evidence against him, the 12-member jury found the defendant not guilty in less than three hours, in a trial in which he was not tried even as confessed terrorist.

The imputations of the prosecutor cited perjury, obstructing procedures and fraud, evidenced throughout the trial, during which other crimes committed by the defendant came to surface, like his involvement in the planting of bombs in hotels in Havana in 1997.

From El Paso, Texas, via telephone, lawyer José Pertierra, who represents Venezuela in its request for the extradition of Posada Carriles, told participants in the TV round table show that “the verdict proves theater worth more than evidence in US courts.”

The jurist, who followed the details of the trial, in situ, every day related the facts and commented procedural arbitrariness and the inappropriate behavior of the defense, many times tolerated by Judge Kathleeen Cardone.

He referred how in the case of Posada Carriles, the jury members heard very clearly when he admitted his participation in the acts of sabotage in Havana, which implicated him in the death of Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo.

Pertierra clarified that the only pending charges against Posada Carriles now are 73 murder charges in Caracas, for the blowing-up of a Cubana airliner on October 6, 1976. He added that “Venezuela will continue to struggle for justice to be served in this case and for US authorities to honor their international obligations and extradite Posada.”

Analysts have highlighted that, in spite of being a fugitive from justice in other countries, with an extradition request by Venezuela, of being wanted by the INTERPOL and having been identified as a dangerous terrorist by some US authorities, Posada Carriles was not in prison in El Paso. He didn’t have to go through a trial similar to those against other suspects of terrorism in that country or in Guantánamo. The charges of perjury and migration fraud he faced in Texas were centered on his illegal entry to the United States in 2005 and on subsequent lies to authorities on his role in some cases of terrorism. (Cubaminrex-RHC)

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