Serrano Criticizes DHS Statement Ruling Out Extradition for Luis Posada
May 20, 2005
Posada, a virulent anti-Castro militant, has been linked to the 1976 bombing of a civilian jetliner that killed 73 people, many of them children, and a 1997 series of deadly bombings at tourist hotels in Havana. Arrested and detained in Venezuela for the jetliner bombing, he escaped from prison in 1985 after supporters paid a $28,000 bribe to his prison guard. He went into hiding, and much later admitted responsibility for the Havana bombings in an interview with the New York Times several years ago. Several weeks ago, he appeared in south Florida where he lived under the protection of supporters there. He was finally apprehended Tuesday after bragging publicly about eluding Homeland Security (DHS) officials and wondering aloud
in a press conference why he hadn't yet been apprehended.
"While I'm glad that DHS finally arrested Posada, it's amazing that he
almost had to goad them into doing it," said Serrano. "It would have been wildly hypocritical of us to let this man with a terrorism indictment on his head live in our midst while at the same time we're asking other countries to help us with our effort against anti-American terrorists."
In a bizarre day of twists and turns, which saw Posada give a secret press conference only to be arrested shortly thereafter, perhaps the oddest moment came with the release of a statement on the Posada arrest from ICE. In the statement, ICE said that it would not deport Posada to Cuba or to Venezuela, despite the still open proceedings against him related to the airline bombing. ICE "does not generally remove people to Cuba, nor does ICE generally remove people to countries believed to be acting on Cuba's behalf," said the statement.
But Venezuelan Vice President Josй Vicente Rangel has made it clear that Venezuela will not extradite Posada to Cuba, only that it wants to continue with the judicial proceedings on the airline bombing left pending by his escape twenty years ago.
"That ICE statement is one of the most bizarre things I've seen in a long
while," said Serrano. "Here's a guy who has admitted to committing
terrorist attacks, who escaped justice by bribing his guards and
high-tailing it out of prison, and we're not willing to extradite him to
face justice? 73 people died in that airliner, many of them children. How can we with any credibility ask other nations to help us out with our global struggle against terror when we won't cooperate with other nations' anti-terror proceedings? There is a two-way street here. Clearly, ICE should retract its ridiculous and highly unusual statement and take Venezuela's extradition request seriously. Posada was a wanted man in Venezuela long before Hugo Chavez was elected President there."
Serrano recently sent a letter to President Bush, signed by several other
members of Congress, requesting that the United States adhere to Venezuela's extradition request. The letter is available upon request.