Luis Posada Carriles

Learn more about Luis Posada Carriles read news and join discussions of this important figure in U.S. – Cuban relations. Born in Cuba in 1928, Luis Posada Carriles is an American-trained munitions expert and former CIA agent... [more]

Learn more about Luis Posada Carriles read news and join discussions of this important figure in U.S. – Cuban relations.

Born in Cuba in 1928, Luis Posada Carriles is an American-trained munitions expert and former CIA agent considered responsible for various terrorist acts against Cuba (most notably an airline bombing in 1976) and an assassination attempt on Fidel Castro in Panama. According to one Miami Herald reporter, Carriles has been regarded as a "freedom fighter" not only by Cuban nationals hostile to the Castro government, but by the U.S. government. Because of this, his recent entry to the U.S. has made Posada Carriles somewhat of a sticky wicket for the U.S. government, considering its "War on Terror," not to mention the escalating problems with immigration policy. Deemed to have snuck over the border in 2005, Posada Carriles was apprehended by the U.S. Justice Department on illegal immigration charges, but he was freed to leave El Paso on Wednesday May 9, 2007 after a Texas judge ruled that he had simply misunderstood the questions on the immigration form. According to the International Herald Tribune, "U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone threw out the indictment, saying the government manipulated Posada's naturalization interview and used it as a pretext for its criminal investigation." Posada Carriles is currently under investigation in New Jersey for a series of Cuban hotel bombings in the late '90s. Coincidentally, he used a similar defense to explain away the fact that he admitted to the hotel bombings in a New York Times article. Now claiming he had nothing to do with the bombings, Posada Carriles contends that he was misunderstood by the Times.

For now, Carilles returns to Miami, where he will join his wife and where he has many supporters among Los Exilos (anti-Communist Cubans who fled the Castro regime). But both Cuban and Venezuelan governments want to see him tried as a terrorist or returned to Venezuela for trial. While so far this option has been ruled out on the grounds that Carriles would be tortured in Venezuela, the U.S. is busy looking for some country to take him in. So far no takers.

Keep track of news, discussions and opinions on the unfolding Posada Carilles saga here at this wikizine.