No Asylum for Luis Posada Carriles

Monday, June 13
National Day of Action

* No Asylum for
Luis Posada Carriles
* Extradite him to Venezuela for Trial
* End the 45-Year U.S. War Against Cuba
* Free the Cuban 5 anti-terrorists from U.S. prison

June 13 was National Day of Action to demand the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela for trial. On this day, he went before an immigration judge for a hearing in El Paso, Texas. Demonstrations took place outside of his immigration hearing in El Paso, and in cities and towns across the U.S. and Canada, including Miami, Washington DC, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Rochester, Chicago, Charlotte, Hackensack, Minnesota, Milwaukee and Vancouver.

Cuba solidarity and antiwar activists came together for the local protests around the country. Among the keynote speakers at the Los Angeles demonstration were Francisco Letelier, the son of Orlando Letelier, the former ambassador, foreign minister and defense minister under the government of Salvador Allende in Chile , who was killed in a terrorist car bombing in Washington DC in 1976. New CIA and FBI documentation shows that Posada was in the meeting to plan that bombing. The Washington DC protest was joined by Wayne Smith, former Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, from 1979-1982; Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy; Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University; and longtime Cuba specialist. The New York City protest included members of the family of Raymond Persaud, the young 19-year-old man who was killed in the terrorist bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455. Raymond was on his way from Guyana to Cuba to study medicine there. In El Paso , Mexican organizations from Juarez and El Paso participated, along with antiwar and Cuba solidarity activists from Albuquerque , New Mexico , and other cities.

On April 12 Luis Posada Carriles, the notorious anti-Cuba terrorist and killer, appealed for asylum in the United States through his attorneys in Miami. After living openly in Miami for over a month, the federal government, bowing to intensifying public pressure, detained Posada on May 17 and charged him with illegally entering the United States. On May 19, it was announced that he will go before an immigration judge for a hearing on June 13 in El Paso, Texas (please stay tuned in case the venue of the hearing changes). At that hearing, Posada's lawyer plans to resubmit his petition for asylum and argue that he should be considered a U.S. resident and allowed to remain in the country.

Venezuela has formally requested extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, to be tried for the bombing of Cubana Airlines flight 455, in which 73 people were killed on October 6, 1976. The Bush administration is so far refusing to honor the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Venezuela, due to the U.S. government's long-standing support for anti-Cuba terrorists. Posada Carriles was a CIA agent, trained in assassination, explosives and sabotage. Posada's terrorist history extends for decades. It is time for justice for his victims.

In the past month more than 20,000 letters have been sent to Bush and Congress as part of the "No Asylum for Posada - Extradition to Venezuela" campaign initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, and major press conferences have taken place on April 21 in Miami and on May 13 in Washington DC, helping to break through with mainstream media coverage of the case. This public pressure campaign has effectively ripped away the mask the Bush Administration wears on the issue of "terrorism." The transparent discrepancy between the official position that any country that harbors a terrorist is equally culpable for terrorist activities, and the Bush administration's support and coddling of Posada and other anti-Cuban terrorists, has made plain for many people in the United States the reality of Bush's so-called "war on terrorism."

It is now more important that ever to oppose Posada being granted asylum in the U.S., to demand his extradition to Venezuela for trial, and call for an end the U.S. government's 45-year war against Cuba.

Monday, June 13 - the day of Posada's hearing – was a National Day of Action.

All photos by Bernie Fox