http://worldmeets.us/images/carriles_cartoon.jpeg

Washington's favorite terrorist, former CIA hand Luis Posada Carriles,

remains free in Miami after bombing a Cuban airliner killing 76 people,

yet Cuba is on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terror.

 

 

Cuba Faces Threat of Terror from U.S., Not the Other Way Around (Opera Mundi, Brazil)

 

"Washington refuses to act to stop extreme right Cuban groups in Florida from planning attacks against the island. ... For over half a century, Cuba has suffered from terrorist violence orchestrated by the United States - first by the CIA, and now by the Cuban extreme right. The impunity afforded violent groups and the drastic imprisonment of Cuban agents who managed to prevent at least 170 attacks against the island show the two faces of the United States in the battle against terrorism, and casts a shadow on Washington's credibility on the issue."

 

By Dr. Salim Lamrani*

                                    http://worldmeets.us/images/Salim-Lamrani-mug_pic.jpg

 

Translated By Brandi Miller

 

May 16, 2014

 

Brazil - Opera Mundi - Original Article (Portuguese)

Former Cuban officer and CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles: the convicted terrorist who continues to walk free on U.S. soil now appears to be training a new generation of anti-Cuba terrorists, and with the consent of U.S. authorities. What crediblity does Washington have to prosecute its fabled 'war against terrorism' when it so blatently sponsers terrorism itself?

 

INTERNET NEWS VIDEO: Former CIA officer Philip Agee testifies about U.S. terrorism against Cuba, and the use of terrorism as an instrument of U.S. state policy, 1997, 00:55:15RealVideo

On May 6, 2014, Cuban authorities announced the arrest of four Miami-based Cubans suspected of preparing terrorist attacks against the island. José Ortega Amador, Obdulio Rodríguez González, Raibel Pacheco Santos and Félix Monzón Álvarez left Florida, and “acknowledge that they intended to attack military installations with the goal of promoting violent actions.”

 

The Havana government charged three other Miami residents with long criminal histories of having been the masterminds behind the attempt: “[The other four prisoners] also stated that the plans were organized under the direction of the terrorists Santiago Álvarez Fernández Magriñá, Osvaldo Mitat and Manuel Alzugaray, who lived in Miami and had direct ties to notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.”

 

Since 1959, Cuba has been the victim of an intense campaign of terror orchestrated from the United States by the CIA and Cuban exiles. Altogether since the triumph of the Revolution, there have been 7,000 attacks on the island that have claimed the lives of 3,478 people, and caused lasting harm to another 2,099.

 

In the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union and opening of Cuba to tourism, there was an increase in terrorist attacks against Havana's hotel infrastructure executed by Miami's Cuban extreme right with the goal of dissuading tourists from traveling to the island, thus sabotaging a vital sector for the moribund Cuban economy. The violent acts have caused the deaths of dozens of victims and claimed the life of an Italian tourist, Fabio di Celmo.

 

The perpetrators of these terrorist attacks remain in Miami where they enjoy total impunity. The case of Luis Posada Carriles [pictured at right] is a perfect example. A former police officer in the Batista dictatorship, he was a CIA agent after 1959 and participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He is responsible for more than 100 assassinations, among them the October 6, 1976 attack against a civilian aircraft of Cubana Airlines which claimed the lives of 73 people - among them the entire Cuban youth fencing team which had just won the Pan American Games.

 

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The guilt of Posada Carriles is beyond doubt: he openly claimed his terrorist career in his autobiography titled The Path of the Warrior, and in an interview with The New York Times on July 12, 1998, he publicly acknowledged being the mastermind behind the 1997 attacks on the Cuban tourism industry. Moreover, FBI and CIA files were revealed in 2005 and 2006, respectively, showing his involvement in terrorism against Cuba.

 

Posada Carriles was never tried for his crimes. On the contrary. Washington always protected him, refusing to prosecute him for his acts or extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela (where he also committed crimes). This reality belies the statements made by the White House on the battle against terrorism.

 

In 1997, Cuba proposed a discrete collaboration with the United States in the fight against terrorism. Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, recently deceased, who maintained friendly relations with both Fidel Castro and Bill Clinton, served as messenger. The island's government invited two FBI officials to Havana to give them a report on the criminal actions of organizations based in Florida. In fact, the Cuban intelligence services had infiltrated several of their agents in Florida. But instead of neutralizing those responsible for terrorist activities, the U.S. government decided to arrest five Cuban agents in 1998, ordering up summarily harsh prison sentences for them ranging from two life sentences to 15 years behin bars in a trial denounced by various international organizations. Three of the condemned - Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino, remain behind bars [aka/The Cuban Fiver. video below].

 

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SEE ALSO ON THIS:

La Jornada, Mexico: Loughner and Carriles: Two Terrorists, One U.S. Double Standard

Juventud Rebelde, Cuba: In Miami, It's Better to Be a Terrorist Than a Poet

Le Figaro, France: Bush Refuses to Extradite 'Friendly' Criminal to Venezuela

Granma, Cuba: Cubans Insist That Washington Shields An International Terrorist

Granma, Cuba: Castro Says U.S. Implicated in 1976 Airline Bombing

Bolvariana de Noticias, Venezuela: Obama 'Must Extradite' Carriles

Adelante, Cuba: Posada Carriles and Al Capone: How U.S. History Repeats Itself

Adelante, Cuba: America's Favorite Terrorist Goes Free
Guardian, U.K.: Raul Castro Tells CELAC Summit: Fight Poverty; Lock Out United States
La Razon, Bolivia: CELAC Condemns U.S. Blockade of Cuba; Elects Raul Castro
El Espectador, Colombia: Not All CELAC Nations Agree with Anti-Imperialist Chavez  

El Universal, Venezuela: Hugo Chavez Declares Monroe Doctrine Dead  

El Tiempo, Colombia: What Good is Our New, U.S.-Free 'Community'?  

Estadao, Brazil: In Latin America, Rhetoric Triumphs Over Reality  

La Razon, Bolivia: Latin America Has Excluded the U.S. … So What Now?

ABC, Spain: Hugo Chavez Calls Terrorism Indictment a U.S.-Spanish Plot  

Folha, Brazil: Latin American Unity Cannot Be Dependent on Excluding the U.S.  

La Jornada, Mexico: Latin America's March Toward 'Autonomy from Imperial Center'

La Jornada, Mexico: Militarization of Latin America: Obama 'Ahead of Bush'

O Globo, Brazil: U.S. Navy Shows That What U.S. Can Do, Brazil Can Also Do  

Clarin, Argentina: Resurrected U.S. Fourth Fleet Creates Suspicion Across South America

Le Figaro, France: U.S. Navy 'Resurrects' Fourth Fleet to Patrol Latin America

Semana, Colombia: Hugo Chávez Isn't 'Paranoid' to Fear the U.S. Marines

 

At the same time, to justify its hostile policy of anachronistic and cruel economic sanctions which affect every strata of the Cuban population and prevent any normalization of bilateral relations, Washington doesn't hesitate to place Cuba on the list of state sponsors of global terrorism. And this, under the pretext that members of the Basque separatist organization ETA, and FARC guerrillas from Colombia, are in Cuba ... at the specific request of the Spanish and Colombian governments. In its [2013 global terrorism] report, Washington clearly recognizes this: “The Government of Cuba supported and hosted negotiations between the FARC and the Government of Colombia aimed at brokering a peace agreement between the two.” The United States recognizes that “There was no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups” and admits that “ETA members in Cuba were relocated with the cooperation of the Spanish government.”

 

[Editor's Note: This is the entire entry from the State Sponsors of Terror Overview on Cuba:  Cuba was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982. Cuba has long provided safe haven to members of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Reports continued to indicate that Cuba’s ties to ETA have become more distant, and that about eight of the two dozen ETA members in Cuba were relocated with the cooperation of the Spanish government. Throughout 2013, the Government of Cuba supported and hosted negotiations between the FARC and the Government of Colombia aimed at brokering a peace agreement between the two.  The Government of Cuba has facilitated the travel of FARC representatives to Cuba to participate in these negotiations, in coordination with representatives of the Governments of Colombia, Venezuela, and Norway, as well as the Red Cross.  There was no indication that the Cuban government provided weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups. ... The Cuban government continued to harbor fugitives wanted in the United States.  The Cuban government also provided support such as housing, food ration books, and medical care for these individuals.]

 

Washington also justifies the inclusion of Cuba on the list of terrorist countries because of the presence on the island of political refugees sought U.S. courts since the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, none of these people have been accused of terrorism.

 

The 33 countries of the CELAC [Community of Latin American and Caribbean States] unanimously rejected the inclusion of Cuba on the list of terrorist states, indicating a serious setback for Washington. In a statement published May 7, 2014, CELAC expressed “its total opposition to the development of unilateral lists that accuse states of allegedly supporting and co-sponsoring terrorism, and urges the government of the United States of America to put an end to this practice” which incites “the disapproval” of the “international community and public opinion on the United States.”

 

For over half a century, Cuba has suffered from terrorist violence orchestrated by the United States - first by the CIA, and now by the Cuban extreme right. The impunity afforded violent groups and the drastic imprisonment of Cuban agents who managed to prevent at least 170 attacks against the island show the two faces of the United States in the battle against terrorism, and casts a shadow on Washington’s credibility on the issue.

 

*With a PhD in Iberian and Latin American studies from the Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV University, Salim Lamrani is a professor at the Universidade de la Reunión and a journalist, specializing in relations between Cuba and the United States. His last book is titled: Cuba, the Media, and the Challenge of Impartiality, Paris, Editions Estrella, 2013, with a prologue by Eduardo Galeano.

 

Contact: lamranisalim@yahoo.fr ; Salim.Lamrani@univ-reunion.fr

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SalimLamraniOfficiel

 

 

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Posted By Worldmeets.US May 16, 2014 9:29pm