Posada Carriles’ torture victims demand his extradition to Venezuela

by Miguel Lozano

CARACAS.—Two years after the presentation of an extradition application, the wounds provoked by terrorist Luis Posada Carriles are still open in Venezuela, while the authorities and social sectors are demanding that the criminal should be handed over.

Posada, a Venezuelan citizen of Cuban origin, escaped from a national jail in 1985 in order to evade trial for his responsibility in the attack on a Cuban passenger plane in 1976 that cost the lives of 73 people of various nationalities.

On June 15, 2005 the Venezuelan authorities asked the United States for the terrorist’s extradition, protected under a bilateral agreement, but far from being detained for that purpose, Posada was arrested on charges contravening immigration law and subsequently released.

But for people like Jesús Marrero, tortured on the orders of Posada – “Captain Basilio” during his time with the Venezuelan political police (DISIP) – the release of the criminal is a bitter pill that demonstrates the existence of impunity.

Interviewed by Prensa Latina, Marrero believes that the release of the torturer “shows clearly that the U.S. government is maintaining its double standards in condemning terrorism and promoting it in certain situations.”

“There is an enormous level of impunity: we, those who have been directly affected, were not called to appear during the trial in which he was released.

“We were ready to go to El Paso, Texas (where the trial took place) to make a statement and they did not take us into account."

Marrero explained that they even published his opinion in a U.S. newspaper “but it was all silenced, they wanted to cover up the case and forget about it. That’s what they planned to do,” he stated.
Source:Prensa Latina/Granma