Chavez: US Protecting "bin Laden of Latin America"
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Update - Sep 30, 2005
The Guardian - September 30, 2005
US accused of protecting Cuban militant
The US is protecting the "Osama bin Laden of Latin America", the Venezuelan
president said today.
Hugo Chavez made his remarks after a US judge ruled against deporting a
Cuban militant who blew up a passenger jet in 1976.
Luis Posada Carriles - who is wanted in Venezuela for the bombing - this
week told an extradition hearing that he faced torture if he was returned to
the country.
An immigration judge in El Paso, Texas, upheld the claims, ruling that
77-year-old Mr Carriles could not be extradited.
Mr Chavez said the decision not to extradite Mr Carriles allowed the Bush
administration to protect one of Latin America's most notorious terrorists.
"The United States is protecting the Osama bin Laden of Latin America," he
said, accusing the US president, George Bush, of "double standards" in the
fight against terror.
Earlier this month, Mr Bush told a UN summit that "terrorists must know
that, wherever they go, they cannot escape justice".
Mr Carriles, a Cuban who also holds Venezuelan citizenship, is accused of
masterminding the bombing of the Cuban passenger jet in 1976. He has denied
any involvement in the attack, but has admitted to working against the Cuban
president, Fidel Castro.
All 73 people on board the Cubana Airlines plane were killed when it
exploded after takeoff from Barbados.
Mr Carriles escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting retrial
after a military court acquitted him of the bombing. He has worked as CIA
operative, and was in the US military for a year during the early 80s.
In May, he was arrested in Miami for being in the US illegally. The
Venezuelan authorities then asked for his extradition to stand trial for the
bombing.
Mr Carriles says he could not return to Venezuela because he would be
tortured, and also alleges that Mr Castro attempted to have him assassinated
in 1990 because of his former position in the Venezuelan security forces.
Venezuela has always denied that Mr Carriles would be tortured if he was
returned. The country's constitution prohibits torture, and Venezuelan
officials insist his rights would be respected.
Copyright 2005 Guardian Unlimited
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