The former head of Cuba’s Department of State Security, Fabian Escalante, tells the Washington Post that accused terrorist Luis Posada Carriles has an insurance policy that ensures he will be provided excellent treatment at the hands of U.S. officials. According to an article in today’s Post, Escalante states, “He has a life insurance policy, which is what he knows about the Kennedy plot.”
Posada Carriles is the accused terrorist who is charged with the terrorist bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 innocent people, including 24 members of Cuba’s national fencing team. For several years, he has been freely walking the streets of Miami because the U.S. government steadfastly refuses to grant an extradition request from Venezuela, which has jurisdiction over the bombing of the airliner.
Did U.S. officials at least indict Posada Carriles for the terrorist bombing of the Cuban airliner? After all, just recently U.S. officials charged two New Jersey men with conspiracy to “kill, maim and kidnap persons outside the United States.”
No, there’s been no indictment for Posada Carriles charging him with the terrorist bombing of that Cuban airliner. And there’s been no extradition of Posada Carriles to Venezuela. Instead, U.S. officials charged him with immigration fraud for supposedly lying to U.S. immigration officials when he entered the United States in 2004.
Why the lenient treatment? One reason could be that Posada Carriles used to work for the CIA. We all know what that means.
As the case of former CIA operative Michael Townley, who committed the terrorist murder of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffit on the streets of Washington, D.C., confirms, when you’re former CIA you’re likely to get some special treatment. After serving a few years in jail for the murders, U.S. officials safely ensconced Townley into the federal Witness Protection Program, where he’s been ever since.
Also, the CIA agents who committed the terrorist kidnapping and rendition for torture in Italy a couple of years ago will attest how U.S. officials have bent over backwards to protect them.
For that matter, the CIA officials who participated in the murder of American citizen Charles Horman during the Pinochet coup in 1973 would undoubtedly confirm the protection from criminal prosecution provided them, but of course we don’t even know who they are.
And then there are the CIA officials who kidnapped and conspired to torture Canadian citizen Maher Arar. They’ve gotten a free pass too.
Was Posada Carriles working for the CIA when he allegedly conspired to bring down that Cuban civilian airliner with a bomb? Does he actually know anything about the Kennedy assassination, as Escalante alleges? We don’t know. But don’t count on anyone within the U.S. government, especially Congress and the Justice Department, to conduct any serious investigations into Posada Carriles’ alleged terrorist activities. After all, this is the CIA we’re talking about.
Over the years, I have written extensively about the Posada Carriles case. (Seehere.) It just seems to have a stench about it.
The year that Posada Carriles supposedly committed immigration fraud was 2004. That’s six years ago! Wouldn’t you think that six years would be sufficient time for prosecutors and defense lawyers to get prepared for trial, especially on a relative simple case involving immigration fraud?
Last month, the presiding judge in the case, Kathleen Cardone, announced that there would be no further delays in the case, an announcement that was somewhat laughable given that she also announced that she was setting the trial date for January of next year — another 7-month delay in a case that is six years old.
Why didn’t Cardone simply set a trial date for July or August 2010? Why delay the case another 7 months? After all, surely the judge recognizes that lawyers on both sides have had plenty of time to prepare for trial, especially given that the immigration fraud case originated some 6 years ago.
Meanwhile, there has been another interesting development pertaining to Posada Carriles. A man named Francisco Chavez Abarca, a close associate of Posada Carriles was arrested in Caracas last week and quickly extradited to Cuba for his alleged involvement in a terrorist bombing in Havana in 1997, the same period of time that Posada Carriles supposedly engaged in terrorist bombings in Cuba. It will be interesting to see what Chavez Abarca discloses, even if it’s in response to Cuba’s harsh interrogation techniques, which undoubtedly will rival those of the CIA.
