US Congressmen to Bush: Deport Posada Carriles

Washington, May 20 (Prensa Latina) A number of US congressmen have requested US President George W. Bush to deny political asylum to terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and allow his extradition to Venezuela, from where he escaped breaking out of jail in 1985.

"We are writing to urge you to oppose the application for asylum by Luis Posada Carriles, and to support the request for extradition to Venezuela, where he is a fugitive from justice," the lawmakers´ letter highlights.

The US legislators reminded Bush that on August 26, 2003 he had said that the one who shelters a terrorist, or supports a terrorist, or feeds a terrorist, is then as guilty as the terrorist himself.

“As a sovereign nation, Venezuela has the right to make justice in this case,” they pointed out in their letter to Bush.
They reminded the president that many people have died in the hands of Posada Carriles:

"Posada, a CIA-trained Cuban exile, is one of only two prime suspects in the bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner, which killed all 73 people onboard on October 6, 1976, according to FBI investigators and declassified documents," the missive underlines.

The lawmakers list a series of acts of terror in which Posada Carriles is involved like the assassination of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and his US assistant Ronnie Moffit on September 21, 1976, when a bomb blew up the car in which they were traveling.

"In November 2000, Posada was arrested in Panama for preparing a bomb to explode in the University of Panama’s Conference Hall, where Fidel Castro was going to deliver a speech. Hundreds of people were expected to attend this event, and had Cuban intelligence not uncovered the plot beforehand, there would have been massive civilian casualties," the document recalls.

The letter was signed, among others, by congressmen Dennis J. Kucinich, Jose Serrano, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, James McGovern, Lane Evans, Lynn Woolsey, Sheila Jackson and Ed Pastor.

"The United States cannot tolerate the inherent inhumanity of terrorism as a way of settling disputes. Appeasement of those who would use force will only breed more terrorists. We must look on terrorism as a universal evil, even if it is directed toward those with whom we have no political sympathy," the signers stress on their call to President Bush.

The US government has decided to process Posada Carriles for illegally entering US national territory, and announced that his case would come to court on June 13.

A communiqué from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE) said Posada will be confined in a center in Texas, without the right to bail.

Agents from the Home Security Department (DHS) arrested Posada Carriles in Miami Tuesday, where he was sheltered after he entered US a little more than two months ago.

Hours before his arrest, Posada confirmed his political asylum request in US, despite which the White House had denied that the terrorist was sheltered in US national territory.