Belafonte Demands Justice in Posada Case
Havana, Apr 27 (Prensa Latina) US singer-actor Harry Belafonte joined more than 4,000 world-renowned personalities who signed a call demanding justice in the case of notorious criminal Luis Posada Carriles.
The document, published on April 16 by the Network of Networks in Defense of Humankind and signed by the prominent musical and film producer, is entitled "Luis Posada Carriles Must Be Tried for His Crimes".
The text says that the Cuban-born terrorist "was accused and tried in Venezuela for the sabotage of a civilian airplane in 1976 killing 73 people." "After escaping from a Venezuelan prison in 1982," the document adds, "he worked for the CIA in the Iran-Contras operation and in the implementation of the genocidal Condor Plan", aimed at exterminating Latin American political opponents.
In 1997, Posada Carriles organized a series of terrorist attacks on Havana hotels, killing young Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.
The declaration says that "in March 2005, Posada Carriles entered the United States illegally. Only after repeated public denunciations revealing the presence of the notorious criminal on US territory, the government of President George W. Bush arrested him and indicted him." However, he was charged "on migratory crimes and false testimony, without the slightest allusion to terrorism," says the document, adding that under pressure from South Florida-based Cuban extremists, Washington"s has given absolute proof of its double standard against terrorism.
The document has been signed by Peace Nobel prizewinners Adolfo Perez Esquivel and Rigoberta Menchu, Literature Nobel laureates Nadine Gordimer and Harold Pinter, and Physics Nobel prizewinner Zhores Alfiorov.
Well-known artists like Danny Glover, Maria Rojo and Walter Salles also signed the declaration.
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Vancouver Picket Condemns US Posada Release
Havana, Apr 27 (Prensa Latina) The Free the Cuban 5 Committee in this Canadian city held a picket action before the US Consulate in Vancouver condemning the release by US authorities of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
The Committee Coordinator Noah Fine said that speakers and chants at this picket carried out on Tuesday, reflected the international outcry against the release of Posada and the continued imprisonment of the 5 Cuban Heroes.
Noah reminded participants that "This monster (Posada) sits in his home in Miami, free to continue organizing terror against the Cuban people in a country whose president stated 'if you harbor a terrorist… you're as guilty as a terrorist.'"
The next speaker, Saida Osman, Coordinator of the Students of Color Committee at Capilano College. explained that terrorism by the US and Posada, does not stop at Cuba, and has been used to destroy the lives of people around the world.
She also stated that she will bring the case of Posada to the Capilano College Students' Union and request they write a letter condemning his release.
Sarah Alwell, organizer with the Free the Cuban 5 Committee- Vancouver, closed the picket stating, "In fighting to defend Cuba, the 5 were also fighting for me, fighting for everyone at this picket and for working and oppressed people around the globe…in one word, they were fighting for all of humanity. That is why it is now our responsibility to defend them!"
Participants heard about the upcoming international day of action on May 11th during Posada's trial in El Paso, Texas. In Vancouver, the Free the Cuban 5 Committee and Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC), are organizing the following events on this day of action:
On Friday May 11, 2007 Picket Action demanding the extradition of Posada to Venezuela and Free the 5 Cuban Heroes Now! That same day there will be a public forum discussing the case of Luis Posada Carriles and the 5 anti-terrorist Cuban Heroes at the SFU Harbour Centre.
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Mexican Senate vs. Posada Release
Mexico, Apr 26 (Prensa Latina) The Mexican Senate exhorted the government on Friday to speak out against the unjustified release in the United States of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
A unanimously approved agreement in the Senate urges the Foreign Affairs Ministry to send a diplomatic note to Washington urging respect of UN accords on terrorism.
The note says the US Congress must honor the Venezuelan extradition request to present Posada Carriles to that nation s court.
It mentions the murder of 73 people in the explosion in mid air of a Cuban airplane in 1976, perpetrated by Posada Carriles, "who is also responsible for other terrorist actions against Cuba and other Latin American nations."
It is said that this man was also involved in the mercenary attack on the Cuban Bay of Pigs, the 1997 bomb attacks in Havana hotels, in which an Italian tourist was killed, and an assassination attempt against President Fidel Castro.
The text states that Posada Carriles violated all Mexican laws when he illegally entered in 2005 in the US and used our country as a stepping stone to get to that northern country."
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