Christoph
13-09-06, 08:31
**For immediate release**
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
2489 Mission St., Room 24, San Francisco CA 94110
http://www.freethefive.org/; freethefive@freethefive.org
415-821-6545 fax; 415-821-5782
Media Contact: Ian Thompson, 310-490-8595, Gloria La Riva, 415-312-6042
“National Committee to Free the Cuban Five” denounces
Magistrate’s Recommendation to Release Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles
Group to Hold Protest in Front of White House, Sept. 23, 2006. Forum that follows at George Washington University will feature victims’ families of Posada’s terror; attorney José Pertierra, working for Posada’s extradition; and Leonard Weinglass, one of the Cuban Five attorneys.
“The outrage of five Cuban anti-terrorists being imprisoned while the notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is recommended for release, makes an absolute mockery of justice,” said Gloria La Riva, upon the news that U.S. Magistrate Norbert Garney in El Paso, Texas, recommended Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should release Luis Posada Carriles. Posada is currently in detention in El Paso, where he has been since May 17, 2005.
La Riva is coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban 5, formed soon after the June 8, 2001 convictions of the Cuban Five in a Miami federal court. They were convicted of 26 federal counts, including espionage conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents. In Dec. 2001 they were given prison terms of 15 years to double life. Three have life sentences. The Cuban Five, their attorneys and National Committee argue that their mission was monitoring the actions of terrorist organizations to stop attacks on Cuba, and never involved espionage conspiracy on the United States.
Although the men won the right to a new trial Aug. 9, 2005 by a three-judge panel’s ruling of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, that decision was reversed by the full Circuit, 10 to 2, this past Aug. 9, and their convictions thereby upheld. The Five’s attorneys are appealing further.
“Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, his accomplice in the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner, killing all 73 people on board, have never renounced their terrorist crimes. Need we remind the U.S. Attorney General, the Immigration judges and the Bush administration that he killed 73 people in 1976, killed Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffit in 1976, killed Fabio Di Celmo in 1997, and tried to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro, in 2000? And this is only part of his bloody history. We repeat our demand for his immediate extradition to Venezuela.”
Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, which has led a national campaign since April 2005 calling for Posada’s extradition, said, “There is worldwide condemnation of the Bush administration’s failure to prosecute Posada for his terrorist crimes. By detaining him solely on immigration violations the government was setting the stage for his release.
“It is clear why. Posada’s terrorist history is intricately linked with the U.S. government’s support of terrorist attacks on Cuba, and in particular, with the Bush family. George H. W. Bush was director of the CIA when Cubana Airlines flight 455 was blown up, killing 73 people. Bush, Sr. was president when he cancelled terrorist Orlando Bosch’s deportation order, granting him permission to remain in the United States.”
La Riva stressed the critical importance of the Sept. 23 march and forum taking place in Washington, DC. It will begin at 11 a.m. at the Department of Justice, and proceed to a picket in front of the White House. A large banner, “Bush: Free the Cuban Five! Stop Harboring the Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles” will be held facing the White House, while people picket. A 2:00 pm forum will follow at the George Washington University. Among the speakers are: Livio Di Celmo, whose brother Fabio Di Celmo, was killed by a bomb that exploded in the Hotel Copacabana in Havana;* Francisco Letelier, son of Orlando Letelier, assassinated in Washington DC on Sept. 21, 1976 along with U.S. activist Ronnie Moffit, in a car bombing; Leonard Weinglass, one of the Cuban Five appeals attorneys; Wayne Smith, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana; Akbar Muhammad, International Representative, Nation of Islam; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Andrés Gómez, coordinator, Antonio Maceo Brigade of Miami; Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five; Peta Lindsay, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; a statement by Mumia Abu-Jamal, and others.
Cuban Five supporters will be coming from New York City, Miami, Tampa, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Richmond VA, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Lexington KY, Nashville, Eugene OR, as well as Montreal, Québec, and Toronto, Canada.
For background information on the Cuban Five and the Sept. 23 March and Forum, visit: http://www.freethefive.org/
* (Posada Carriles admitted to the New York Times in July 1998 that he paid mercenaries to plant bombs in Cuban hotels.)
National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
2489 Mission St., Room 24, San Francisco CA 94110
http://www.freethefive.org/; freethefive@freethefive.org
415-821-6545 fax; 415-821-5782
Media Contact: Ian Thompson, 310-490-8595, Gloria La Riva, 415-312-6042
“National Committee to Free the Cuban Five” denounces
Magistrate’s Recommendation to Release Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles
Group to Hold Protest in Front of White House, Sept. 23, 2006. Forum that follows at George Washington University will feature victims’ families of Posada’s terror; attorney José Pertierra, working for Posada’s extradition; and Leonard Weinglass, one of the Cuban Five attorneys.
“The outrage of five Cuban anti-terrorists being imprisoned while the notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is recommended for release, makes an absolute mockery of justice,” said Gloria La Riva, upon the news that U.S. Magistrate Norbert Garney in El Paso, Texas, recommended Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should release Luis Posada Carriles. Posada is currently in detention in El Paso, where he has been since May 17, 2005.
La Riva is coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban 5, formed soon after the June 8, 2001 convictions of the Cuban Five in a Miami federal court. They were convicted of 26 federal counts, including espionage conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents. In Dec. 2001 they were given prison terms of 15 years to double life. Three have life sentences. The Cuban Five, their attorneys and National Committee argue that their mission was monitoring the actions of terrorist organizations to stop attacks on Cuba, and never involved espionage conspiracy on the United States.
Although the men won the right to a new trial Aug. 9, 2005 by a three-judge panel’s ruling of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, that decision was reversed by the full Circuit, 10 to 2, this past Aug. 9, and their convictions thereby upheld. The Five’s attorneys are appealing further.
“Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, his accomplice in the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner, killing all 73 people on board, have never renounced their terrorist crimes. Need we remind the U.S. Attorney General, the Immigration judges and the Bush administration that he killed 73 people in 1976, killed Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffit in 1976, killed Fabio Di Celmo in 1997, and tried to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro, in 2000? And this is only part of his bloody history. We repeat our demand for his immediate extradition to Venezuela.”
Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, which has led a national campaign since April 2005 calling for Posada’s extradition, said, “There is worldwide condemnation of the Bush administration’s failure to prosecute Posada for his terrorist crimes. By detaining him solely on immigration violations the government was setting the stage for his release.
“It is clear why. Posada’s terrorist history is intricately linked with the U.S. government’s support of terrorist attacks on Cuba, and in particular, with the Bush family. George H. W. Bush was director of the CIA when Cubana Airlines flight 455 was blown up, killing 73 people. Bush, Sr. was president when he cancelled terrorist Orlando Bosch’s deportation order, granting him permission to remain in the United States.”
La Riva stressed the critical importance of the Sept. 23 march and forum taking place in Washington, DC. It will begin at 11 a.m. at the Department of Justice, and proceed to a picket in front of the White House. A large banner, “Bush: Free the Cuban Five! Stop Harboring the Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles” will be held facing the White House, while people picket. A 2:00 pm forum will follow at the George Washington University. Among the speakers are: Livio Di Celmo, whose brother Fabio Di Celmo, was killed by a bomb that exploded in the Hotel Copacabana in Havana;* Francisco Letelier, son of Orlando Letelier, assassinated in Washington DC on Sept. 21, 1976 along with U.S. activist Ronnie Moffit, in a car bombing; Leonard Weinglass, one of the Cuban Five appeals attorneys; Wayne Smith, former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana; Akbar Muhammad, International Representative, Nation of Islam; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Andrés Gómez, coordinator, Antonio Maceo Brigade of Miami; Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five; Peta Lindsay, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; a statement by Mumia Abu-Jamal, and others.
Cuban Five supporters will be coming from New York City, Miami, Tampa, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Richmond VA, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Lexington KY, Nashville, Eugene OR, as well as Montreal, Québec, and Toronto, Canada.
For background information on the Cuban Five and the Sept. 23 March and Forum, visit: http://www.freethefive.org/
* (Posada Carriles admitted to the New York Times in July 1998 that he paid mercenaries to plant bombs in Cuban hotels.)