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  1. #1
    Senior Member Neese's Avatar
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    Cuban militant indicted on immigration charges

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/ ... TE=DEFAULT

    Jan 11, 9:41 PM EST

    Cuban militant indicted on immigration charges

    By ALICIA A. CALDWELL
    Associated Press Writer

    EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- An anti-Castro Cuban exile being held by U.S. immigration officials was indicted Thursday on one count of naturalization fraud and six counts of making false statements in a naturalization proceeding, according to the Justice Department.

    Luis Posada Carriles, 78, is a former CIA operative with ties to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in the 1960s. He has been accused of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner in Venezuela that killed 73 people.

    The governments of Cuba and Venezuela want him deported to the South American country to face trial, but a federal immigration judge who ordered Posada out of the United States ruled that he could not be sent to either country. Posada was born in Cuba and is a naturalized citizen of Venezuela.

    The indictment alleges that Posada knowingly lied on his application and under oath when applying for naturalization to the United States in September 2005 and April 2006.

    Felipe Millan, Posada's El Paso attorney, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was not surprised by the indictment.

    "It's something I had heard about; it's not an entire shock," Millan said. "It was expected in a way."

    Posada's first court appearance in connection with the criminal charges is expected to take place next week, Millan said.

    According to the indictment, Posada lied during his April naturalization interview about the transportation routes, methods and individuals who accompanied him during his March 2005 entry into the country.

    He said he traveled from Honduras through Belize, ultimately reaching the United States near Brownsville, Texas, with the help of a human smuggler. But Posada actually entered the country by sea on a boat with four others, according to the indictment.

    Millan acknowledges that the charges are serious but said he believes that Posada told the truth during the naturalization interview and in documents.

    Posada, who Millan has said is in poor health, has denied any wrongdoing in the jetliner bombing or any other attacks against Cuban interests.

    Santiago Alvarez, a key Posada benefactor, and Osvaldo Mitat, one of Alvarez's employees, were indicted in El Paso on a charge of failing to appear before the grand jury. Both pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in Florida last year and are in prison there.

    The Posada indictment also said he had a fake Guatemalan passport bearing his photograph and the name Manuel Enrique Castillo Lopez.

    If convicted, Posada faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the naturalization fraud count and five years in prison on each of the false statement counts.

    The Posada indictment beats a Feb. 1 deadline set by a judge that forced the U.S. government to provide evidence justifying Posada's detention pending deportation.

    Millan said it was unclear what impact the indictment would have on the pending deportation order. He said if the federal criminal indictment proceeds Posada could ask to be set free on bond, a move that he expected would draw opposition from Justice Department officials.

    Peter Kornbluh, of George Washington University's National Security Archive, said the indictment does not address Posada's perceived role in the bombing in Venezuela.

    "The administration has to get into his terrorist crimes before it is clear that it is serious about bringing Posada to justice," Kornbluh said.

    Posada's lawyers contend the United States is violating a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that foreign nationals who can't be deported could not be held indefinitely. The high court set a six-month maximum, and Posada has been in U.S. custody since May 2005.

    Several countries have rejected U.S. requests for Posada to be sent there.

    Millan said the indictment may ultimately hint at the government's intention to ensure that Posada is never released.

    "Why do they continue to do whatever they can to continue to hold Mr. Posada?" Millan asked.

    ---

  2. #2
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    http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/ ... 124216/357

    Posada Carriles indicted on immigration charges in find-the-terrorist shell game
    By Bill Conroy,
    Posted on Sat Jan 13th, 2007 at 12:42:16 PM EST
    There has been yet another twist in the case of accused anti-Castro terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
    If you recall, Posada Carriles was arrested in Miami in mid-May 2005 after allegedly entering the United States illegally via the Texas/Mexico border. He then claims to have taken a bus from Texas to Miami.

    However, Narco News’ Al Giordano reported way back in July 2005 that it is almost certain Posada Carriles was delivered to the shores of Miami with the assistance of his benefactor, Santiago Alvarez, and a misguided shrimp boat captain who, prior to reaching U.S. soil, washed nearly ashore with his crew in public view off the coast of Mexico. Giordano’s story points out that this high-seas adventure was first uncovered by Authentic Journalist Yolanda Gutiérrez Sagrero and photojournalist Mario Alonzo and reported by Mexico’s daily Por Esto!

    And now it turns out that a Texas grand jury has come to the same conclusion about Posada Carriles' aquatic journey.


    The following is from a Los Angeles Times report that hit the Web yesterday:

    A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted militant Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles on immigration violations that could send the 79-year-old to prison for at least 10 years.
    … The indictment by a West Texas grand jury alleges Posada Carriles lied on his application for U.S. naturalization and during subsequent immigration proceedings.

    … Posada has been in a federal immigration lockup in El Paso since his May 2005 arrest on charges of illegally entering the U.S. He told an immigration court in September of that year that he had made his way into Texas in March 2005 with the help of a smuggler.

    But Cuban media alleged [and of course no credit to Mexico's Por Esto! or to Narco News’ Giordano] as soon as he surfaced in Miami later that month that Posada had been picked up from Mexico's Yucatan peninsula by four fellow exiles on a shrimp boat owned by influential Cuban American developer Santiago Alvarez and brought to a Florida Gulf Coast marina.

    … Posada was convicted in late 2005 of immigration violations and was ordered deported. But a federal judge ruled that he couldn't be extradited to Cuba or Venezuela because of the possibility he would be tortured or abused in the custody of those governments.

    Posada Carriles is a long-time CIA operative who is accused of blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976, snuffing out the lives of some 73 innocent people. Of course, that is just the tip of the ice pick in terms of the crimes Posada Carriles stands accused of in the eyes of the world. Venezuela, in particular, wants justice served up to Posada Carriles and has sought his extradition in connection with the airline bombing.

    The 78-year-old Posada Carriles is a native of Cuba but later also became a citizen of Venezuela, where the airline-bombing plot was allegedly masterminded.

    Posada Carriles is now sitting in jail in El Paso as he seeks refuge in the United States from the retribution that awaits him elsewhere for past deeds.

    Last September, the Associated Press reported that “a federal magistrate has agreed [Posada Carriles] should be able to leave a federal immigration jail” while he waits the outcome of his immigration case. He is set to be released under that order on Feb. 1, pending the outcome of his arraignment on the new criminal charges outlined in the recent indictment.

    The U.S. government, in Posada Carriles’ immigration case, has argued that the terrorist cannot be deported to Cuba or Venezuela because he would face certain torture and a threat to his life if returned to either of those sovereign nations — which were victims of his terrorist activity.

    The hypocrisy of that position points out that Posada Carriles presents a quite a dilemma for the powerful elites in this country who occupy a plantation villa known as the White House.

    After all, if Posada Carriles were to be returned to Cuba or Venezuela, what dark secrets might he reveal to officials there about the U.S. government’s involvement in his sordid terrorist past?

    The Los Angeles Times report points out that “a New Jersey grand jury is investigating the terrorism issues and has yet to issue any action.” (I suspect that case is not at the top of the Justice Department’s must-do list.)

    The Los Angeles Times report also points out that the indictment returned this week against Posada Carriles on immigration-related charges might be one way for the Bush administration to quell public outrage over the hypocrisy of his administration’s failure to hold a known terrorist accountable for his past bloodshed.


    Thursday's grand jury indictment "shows that the Justice Department is serious about pursuing Posada but still leaves his case in the immigration courts instead of addressing his terrorist background," said Peter Kornbluh of the independent National Security Archive at George Washington University.
    Kornbluh suspects the Bush administration is reluctant to put Posada on trial for sabotage or acts of terrorism because of his close ties to U.S. security and intelligence operations over the years.

    [Posada Carriles' attorney, Eduardo] Soto has also alluded to his client's knowledge of clandestine activities and their potential to embarrass past Republican administrations.

    President George H.W. Bush, the current president's father, was CIA director during the Iran-Contra affair in which Posada played a key role.

    The truth can be such an inconvenient thing for power.
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  3. #3
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    http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5953328&nav=1TjD

    Pipe bomb found on truck belonging to witness in Posada case









    MIAMI Officials says a key witness in a federal case against jailed Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles is the owner of a pickup truck that had a pipe bomb attached to it.

    The bomb was detonated Sunday by Miami authorities.

    Two federal authorities speaking on condition of anonymity say the truck's owner is Gilberto Abascal -- a person key to the U-S case charging Posada with lying during immigration naturalization proceedings.

    Posada has been held by immigration officials in Texas since his 2005 arrest in Miami.

    The 78-year-old is accused by Cuba and Venezuela of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner, which killed 73 people.

    He was indicted last week by a grand jury in El Paso on charges that he lied under oath when applying for naturalization to the United States in 2005 and 2006. Posada claimed he entered the U-S by land near Brownsville, but authorities say he actually arrived on a boat.
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    Dec. 13, 2007, 11:11PM
    5 associates of Cuban militant linked to immigration fraud


    By JAY WEAVER
    McClatchy-Tribune

    MIAMI — Five associates of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles have pleaded guilty in Texas to charges of obstruction of justice in an investigation linked to immigration fraud charges against Posada, the Justice Department said Thursday.

    Ruben Lopez-Castro and Jose Pujol each pleaded guilty to one count before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone on Wednesday.

    The other three defendants who already pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge: Ernesto Abreu, Osvaldo Mitat and Santiago Alvarez.

    All five defendants, who are from Miami, face up to 10 years in prison.

    The defendants refused to testify before the federal grand jury about Posada's entry into the United States in 2005. Posada was charged with lying to immigration authorities when he said he entered the country at the Texas border. That conflicted with information from a government witness, Gilberto Abascal, who told federal agents that Posada came into the country on a fishing boat from a Mexican island.

    Abascal has told The Miami Herald he was on the boat with Posada and several of the other defendants. The vessel, called the Santrina, belonged to a company owned by Alvarez.

    Alvarez is a South Florida real estate magnate who was convicted in a separate criminal case stemming from stockpiling weapons in South Florida.

    Earlier this year, Cardone, the federal judge, dismissed the fraud indictment filed against Posada in El Paso, saying federal authorities used his immigration interview as a pretext to probe Posada's alleged anti-Castro militant activities.

    Among them: a conspiracy to bomb a series of tourist sites in Havana in 1997 that left one Italian man dead. The Justice Department has been investigating that case for almost two years before a federal grand jury in Newark, N.J.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5376846.html
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  5. #5
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    ADDITIONAL DEFENDANTS PLEAD GUILTY TO OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
    IN U.S. INVESTIGATION OF LUIS POSADA CARRILES



    Shana Jones, Special Assistant
    Daryl Fields, Public Information Officer
    (210) 384-7440 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    December 13, 2007


    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five associates of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles have pleaded guilty in the Western District of Texas to charges of obstruction of justice in connection with the U.S. government’s investigation of Posada Carriles, Michael J. Mullaney, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas announced today.
    Late yesterday, Ruben Lopez-Castro, 69, and Jose Pujol, 78, each entered pleas of guilty to a one-count superseding criminal information that charged each defendant with obstruction of justice. The plea occurred before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone. Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, three years supervised release and a $100 special assessment. Sentencing for the pair was scheduled for March 13, 2008.

    On Dec. 3, 2007, Ernesto Abreu also pleaded guilty to an obstruction of justice count in the Western District of Texas in connection with the same investigation. On Nov. 16, 2007, two additional defendants, Osvaldo Mitat and Santiago Alvarez each entered pleas of guilty to obstruction of justice in the case. Sentencing for Abreu, Mitat and Alvarez has been scheduled for Feb. 1, 2008.

    A federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas subpoenaed each of the defendants to testify in the course of its investigation into allegedly false statements made to the government made by Posada Carriles about his unlawful entry to the United States and other matters.

    Each of the defendants was granted immunity from prosecution from any self-incriminating statements and was ordered to testify by the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas. Not withstanding the grant of immunity and court order compelling their testimony, the defendants refused to testify before the grand jury about the subject of its investigation. By doing so, the defendants did unlawfully and corruptly influence, obstruct and impede, and endeavor to influence, obstruct, and impede the due administration of justice.

    The investigation into this matter is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Michael J. Mullaney, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas for purposes of this prosecution, as well as Trial Attorneys John W. Van Lonkhuyzen and Paul Ahern, from the Counter-Terrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

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