'Fraid so. Don’t forget, this is a country where Henry Kissinger, implicated in the bloody 1972 military coup in Chile (and don’t get me started on Vietnam and Cambodia), is still a respected elder statesman; Oliver North, a criminal gunrunner, was and still is hailed by many as an “American hero”; and John Negroponte, with his history of cooperation with Central American death squads, was appointed interim ruler of Iraq and is now our National Intelligence Director. (What’s more, the Senate vote on Negroponte’s confirmation was 98 to 2. See this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303136) And somebody like Posada also has the at least tacit support of a lot of the Miami Cubans, who think any tactics are good against the Castro regime. Yes, it’s a serious question.
Update: Posada has just been arrested in Miami by the Department of Homeland Security – Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11669225.htm This was right after he had withdrawn his asylum application.
So pretending he isn’t here is no longer an option. What will they do with him now? Turn him over to Venezuela, or let him languish in detention indefinitely?
According to documents recently released by the National Security Archive, the CIA had concrete advance knowledge of plans to bomb the Cuban airliner in 1976: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/
The Wikipedia article I linked to in the OP said Posada had been convicted of the bombing in Venezueala, but now the Wikipedia says he was twice acquitted, and escaped while the prosecutor was applying for retrial: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles There’s no double jeopardy in Venezuelan law?
This doesn’t change the fact that Carriles is already under arrest by the U.S. for immigration reasons, and the Venezuelan government is apparently still planning on going forward with an extradition request.
That actually sounds like S.O.P. to me - if he’s been arrested for violating any U.S. law, the Feds will want their pound of flesh before turning him over to anyone else. Then they will sort out any competing claims by other authorities.
I just realized how long it’s been since the last post to this thread. Updates are fair for bumping, but I expect a Mod to lock this thread soon – board policy; too many earlier posters might be gone. Is there any interest in starting a new one?
“I’ve set a clear doctrine: America makes no distinction between the terrorists and the countries that harbor them. If you harbor a terrorist, you’re just as guilty as the terrorists, and you’re an enemy of the United States of America.” – dubya
US hypocrisy as its worst. How can anyone believe anything the man says?
I have been learning about this case recently. Two things stand out from my perspective, one Posada Carriles was not the only leader of the plot to bomb Cubana 455, Orlando Bosch was mentioned. Orlando Bosch is living in Miami after going through a very similar set of circumstances to come into the US some years back. You don’t hear word one from anyone about him.
The second is that this is pretty much how things work in Cuba, whip up public outrage about this thing or the other to distract the people from whatever happens to be going on. Righ now what’s going on in Cuba is that a purge of the government is taking place, 4 ministers replaced in the last 6 months, and obviously the transfer of power from Fidel to Raul. That is all, the international outrage is a nice bonus for the Cuban government but the target of the outrage has always been the people in Cuba.