Posada Carriles Trial Begins Today
Cuban exile and self-proclaimed militant Luis Posada Carriles is going before a federal judge in El Paso’s Federal Courthouse downtown this morning.
Posada, 82, is linked to several terrorist attacks over the last four decades. He’s believed to be the mastermind behind bombings in Cuba in 1997 that killed an Italian tourist, as well as the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed 73 people.
But rather than face charges for those attacks, Posada is being tried for naturalization fraud, perjury and obstruction. Authorities said the militant lied about how he entered the U.S. back in 2005, as well as about his involvement in the bombings of Havana tourist spots.
Posada was caught in El Paso in 2005, arrested for allegedly entering the U.S. illegally. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone threw out the charges in 2007, saying there was a lack of evidence. But a Fifth Circuit Court judge reversed that ruling a year later.
The Cuban militant has been living in Miami with family, according to a report by the New York Times. An immigration judge ordered him deported in 2005, but ruled Posada should not be sent to Venezuela or Cuba, where it’s believed he would be tortured.
While waiting for the trial to begin, the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition out of Washington, D.C., held a tribunal for Posada in El Paso over the weekend. The organizer feels the federal government is not using the stacks of evidence against the militant to its fullest potential.
“ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) acknowledged that Posada is a terrorist, and yet he’s only charged with lying,” exclaimed Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. “Why is that? If the United States wants to pretend to be the champion of the struggle against terrorism, how can you let a man like Posada Carriles walk free?”
Posada will go before Judge Cardone this morning.
Stay with ABC-7 and kvia.com for any developments on the trial.
