4-17-07, 9:44 pm PDT

Luis Posada Carriles must be tried for his crimes By In Defense of Humanity


While in the name of the fight against terrorism, hundreds of thousands of people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and others - arbitrarily detained - are tortured in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the United States governmentprotects the most notorious terrorist in this hemisphere, attempting to deceive public opinion through interminable pseudo-legal maneuvers and refusing to try him for his real crimes.

Luis Posada Carriles was accused and brought to trial in Venezuela for the 1976 attack against a commercial aircraft in which 73 persons died. After escaping from Venezuelan prisons in 1982 - leaving his trial unconcluded - he served the CIA as part of what was known as the 'Iran-contras' operation and also in the implementation of the genocidal Plan Condor. In 1997 he prepared a series of terrorist acts against hotels in Havana - in one of which the young Italian tourist, Fabio Di Celmo, lost his life -, and in the year 2000, the projected attempt against President Fidel Castro´s life at the University of Panama.

In March, 2005, Posada Carriles entered the United States illegally. Only after reiterated public denunciations that revealed the presence of this criminal in U.S. territory, the government of George W. Bush proceeded to detain and charge him for immigration crimes and false witness, without the slightest reference to terrorism.

Through their handling of Posada Carriles, the U.S. authorities, pressured by groups of Cuban extremists in South Florida, have made evident the double morality of their war against terrorism in the name of which they torture, kidnap and bomb. At the same time, as has been denounced by numerous international forums and United Nations´ agencies, five Cuban anti-terrorist activists remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States, subjected together with their families to cruel and discriminatory treatment.

All honest people of the world who raise their voices against war and terrorism, have before them irrefutable proof of the lack of ethics upon which the current administration in Washington bases its actions. We, the undersigned, demand that the government of the United States, in compliance with international obligations, charge Luis Posada Carriles for all of his crimes or attend the request for his extradition to Venezuela, which until now has received absolutely no response.

Sign the Letter



Initial signatures:

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel , Argentina; Noam Chomsky, EEUU; Oscar Niemeyer, Brasil; Alfonso Sastre, España; Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay; Danny Glover; EEUU;Istvan Meszaros, Hungría; Alice Walker, EEUU; Gianni Miná, Italia; Blanca Chancosa, Ecuador; Cindy Shehan, EEUU; Manu Chao, Francia-España; Boaventura de Sousa, Portugal; Frei Betto, Brasil; Mario Benedetti, Uruguay; Ariel Dorfman, Chile-EEUU; Tristán Bauer, Argentina; Howard Zinn, EEUU; Armand Mattelart, Bélgica; Gioconda Belli , Nicaragua; Russell Banks, EEUU; Nora Cortiñas, Argentina; Joao Pedro Stedile, Brasil; Medea Benjamín, EEUU; Roy Brown, Puerto Rico; Belén Gopegui, España; Hildebrando Pérez Grande, Perú; Luis Britto, Venezuela; Jane Franklin, EEUU; Daniel Viglietti, Uruguay; Emir Sader, Brasil; Miguel Bonasso, Argentina; Lucius Walker, EEUU; Piero Gleijeises, Italia-EEUU; Gianni Vattimo, Italia; Jorge Enrique Adoum, Ecuador; Juan Gelman, Agentina; Michel Collon , Bélgica; James Petras , EEUU; Francois Houtart, Bélgica; Stella Calloni, Argentina; Eric Toussaint, Bélgica; Atilio Borón, Argentina; Naomi Klein, Canadá; Pascual Serrano , España; Manuel Cabieses, Chile; Keith Ellis, Canadá; Michael Parenti, EEUU; Arturo Corcuera, Perú; Beverly Keene, EEUU-Argentina; Carlos Fazio, México; Ramón Chao, España/Francia; James Early, EEUU; Jorge Sanjinés, Bolivia; Franz Hinkelammert, Alemania-Costa Rica; Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, España-México; Volodia Teitelboim, Chile; Noé Jitrik, Argentina; Wim Dierckxens, Holanda-Costa Rica; Victor Victor, República Dominicana; Fernando Buen Abad, México; Saul Landau, EEUU; Salim Lamrani, Francia; Juan Madrid, España; Rene Burri, Suiza; Luisa Valenzuela, Argentina; Carlos Fernández Liria, España; José Steinsleger, Argentina-México; Roberto Montoya, Argentina; Fernando Morais, Brasil; Federico Álvarez, México; Montserrat Ponsa, España; Héctor Díaz-Polanco, México; Setsuko Ono, EEUU; Antonio Maira, España; Marilia Guimaraes, Brasil; Pepe Viñoles, Suecia; Ana Delicado Palacios, España; Tununa Mercado, Argentina; Winston Orrillo, Perú; John Gerassi, EEUU; Santiago Alba Rico, España; Gilberto López y Rivas, México; Rafael Cancel Miranda, Puerto Rico; James Cockcroft, EEUU; Eva Forest, España; Juan Mari Brás, Puerto Rico; Michèle Mattelart, Francia; Donatella Meszaros, Italia; Víctor Flores Olea, México; Maribel Permuy, España; Hernando Calvo Ospina, Colombia; Rosina Valcárcel, Perú; Pablo Guayasamín, Ecuador; Isaura Navarro, España; Pilar Roca, Perú;Carlos Gabetta, Argentina; Etna Velarde, Perú; Ernesto Carmona, Chile; Néstor Kohan, Argentina; Vicente Romano, España; Vicente Battista, Argentina; Carlos 'Chino' Dominguez, Perú; Nazanín Amirian, Irán; Higinio Polo, España; Beinusz Szmukler, Argentina; Pablo Romo, México; Aton Fon Filho, Brasil; Manuel Talens, España; Alcira Argumedo, Argentina; David Acera, España; Arnoldo Mora, Costa Rica; Juan Cristóbal, Perú; Julio César Monge, El Salvador; Harald Neuber; Alemania; Alfredo Vera, Ecuador; Fernando Rendón, Colombia; Leslee Lee, Perú;Ángel Guerra, Cuba; Alessandra Riccio, Italia; Atilio Bonilla, Perú;Gennaro Carotenuto, Italia; Javier Couso, España; Reynaldo Naranjo, Perú; Carlos Varea, España; Gustavo Espinoza, Perú;John Pateman, Reino Unido; Héctor Arenas, Colombia; Federico García, Perú;Eva Björklund; Suecia; Jordan Flaherty, EEUU; Bruno Portuguez, Perú; Raúl Zurita, Chile; Gloria La Riva , EEUU; Francisco Cañizales, Venezuela; Marta Harnecker, Chile; Peter Bohmer, EEUU; Ann Sparanese, EEUU; Francisco (Pancho) Villa, Chile; Yhonny García, Venezuela; Patricia Ariza, Colombia; Raúl Vallejo, Ecuador; Georges E. Maouvois, Martinica; Isidora Aguirre, Chile; Antoine Chao, Francia; Xiomara García Venezuela; Sara Rosenberg, Argentina; Fernando Butazzoni, Uruguay; Danielle Bleitrach, Francia; Jacek Wozniak; Polonia; Jaime Chao, Francia; Miguel Urbano, Portugal

the Letter

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