Thread: Jury seated in Luis Posada Carriles immigration trial

Jury seated in Luis Posada Carriles immigration trial

By WILL WEISSERT / Associated Press
Posted: 01/11/2011 05:03:46 PM MST

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A jury has been seated in an immigration fraud trial for an anti-communist militant considered Fidel Castro's nemesis.
Luis Posada Carriles is facing 11 counts of federal perjury, obstruction and naturalization fraud.

The 82-year-old is accused of making false statements in 2005, after he sneaked into the U.S. and was questioned about his past while under oath during immigration procedures in El Paso.

Question-and-answer sessions that went two days with 130 jury candidates produced a jury Tuesday consisting of five men and seven women on Tuesday.

Cuba and Venezuela accuse Posada of planning the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner. Both also say Posada planned a string of bombings of Havana hotels in 1997.

The U.S. hasn't charged him in either matter, however, only with immigration fraud.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_17067398

Tension before opening statements in Posada trial

By WILL WEISSERT - Jan 11, 2011 8:59 PM PT By The Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — With opening statements set for Wednesday in an immigration fraud trial for an anti-communist militant considered Fidel Castro's nemesis, attorneys are arguing about how much of the defendant's cold-warrior past and the Cuban government's credibility should be admissible.

Luis Posada Carriles, 82, is a former CIA operative facing 11 counts of perjury, obstruction and naturalization fraud. He's accused of making false statements in 2005 for allegedly lying during immigration interviews in El Paso about how he got into the U.S. and about his role in a string of 1997 bombings that rocked Havana hotels and killed an Italian tourist.

Prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge not to allow defense attorneys to raise questions about the Castro government's propensity for stretching historical facts — something Posada's lead attorney, Arturo Hernandez, had said he planned to do in his opening statement.

U.S .District Judge Kathleen Cardone did not issue a full ruling, but she said some of what Hernandez wanted to say was irrelevant.

"This is a case about lying but it's also a case about where the evidence is coming from to show that lie," Hernandez told the court. "I have a right to prove the Cuban government's motive to fabricate."

He said he will "demonstrate the long-lasting, long-existing bias of the Cuban government toward my client."

Lead prosecutor Timothy Reardon responded, "This is not the history channel. The regime in Cuba is not the defendant."

Cardone said she would consider a written response from Hernandez early Wednesday, then rule on the government's motion before opening arguments.

Posada wore a brown suit and an earpiece providing simultaneous Spanish translation, although declassified U.S. intelligence documents indicate he speaks English well. He often makes a chewing motion with his mouth, having lost part of his tongue during an attempt on his life.

The list of those who may testify includes two police officers who will travel from Cuba and the forensic expert who performed an autopsy on Fabio Di Celmo, the Italian who was killed when a bomb tore through the lobby of Havana's Copacabana Hotel in 1997.

It took a day and a half to seat a jury of seven women and two men. Cardone summoned 130 jury candidates — instead of the usual 42 — so there would be enough who weren't prejudiced by previous news coverage of the case.

Cuba and Venezuela accuse Posada of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Both governments also say Posada was behind the 1997 Havana hotel bombings.

The U.S. is not trying Posada on either matter and an immigration judge previously ruled he cannot be extradited to Venezuela or Cuba for fear he could be tortured.

Posada was born in Cuba but left after Castro came to power in 1959. In the 1980s, he was acquitted in Venezuela of the 1976 airliner bombing, then escaped from prison while awaiting a government appeal. Posada, also a former U.S. Army soldier and head of Venezuela's intelligence agency, has denied taking part in blowing up the airliner, though declassified FBI documents quote informants as saying he was deeply involved in planning it.

Posada previously admitted involvement in the hotel bombings in interviews with the New York Times, saying they were intended only to "break windows and cause minor damage."

Posada was convicted in Panama in a 2000 attempt to assassinate Castro there but received a presidential pardon in 2005. That March, his lawyer said Posada had come to Miami and was seeking U.S. political asylum.

Under international pressure for harboring an accused terrorist, U.S. authorities arrested Posada in May 2005. A federal grand jury indicted him in the immigration fraud case in January 2007.

Posada has claimed he was brought across the U.S. border into Texas by a smuggler, but authorities allege he sailed from Mexico to Florida. In recent interviews with The Associated Press, Posada has not denied prosecutors' account.

Posada was released in April 2007 and has been living with his family in Miami since then.

Some in South Florida's Cuban-exile community view Posada as a hero who spent his life battling Castro.

www.bloomberg.com

Prosecutor: Luis Posada Carriles Lied About Militant Past
POSTED: 2:44 pm MST January 12, 2011


EL PASO, Texas -- A federal prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that an ex-CIA agent and nemesis of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro "can do anything he wants to the Cuban regime" but broke federal law when he lied about it under oath while seeking American citizenship.

During opening statements in the trial of Luis Posada Carriles, a defense attorney countered that the Cuban militant "substantially told the truth" during naturalization hearings in 2005 and that the government's case is built on an unreliable paid informant.

Posada, 82, faces 11 counts of perjury, obstruction and naturalization fraud. He is accused of making false statements during immigration interviews in 2005 in El Paso about how he got into the U.S. and about his role in a string of 1997 bombings that rocked Havana hotels and killed an Italian tourist.

In recent interviews with The Associated Press in Miami, where he lived with family while awaiting trial, Posada did not deny prosecutors' account of how he reached American soil five years ago, but he has still pleaded not guilty. He declined to directly answer questions about his role in the hotel bombings.

"The evidence will show that he lied. He lied repeatedly during these interviews," lead prosecutor Timothy Reardon, a Washington-based U.S. attorney who focuses on counterterrorism, told the jury of seven women and five men, most of them of Hispanic origin.

Posada's Miami-based attorney, Arturo Hernandez, said Posada has "always been on the side of our country" and that while he told some lies while seeking U.S. citizenship, he never committed perjury. Instead, Hernandez argues, Posada was the victim of false accusations by a paid government informant, Gilberto Abascal.

Cuba and Venezuela accuse Posada of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Both governments also say Posada was behind the 1997 Havana hotel attacks.

The U.S. is not trying Posada on either matter, however, sticking only to immigration charges. A federal immigration judge has previously ruled he cannot be deported to Venezuela or Cuba for fear he could be tortured.

On Wednesday, the white-haired Posada wore a dark suit and stood briefly for the jury as Hernandez began his opening statement. During the rest of the proceedings he sat quietly and displayed very little emotion. He often makes a chewing motion with his mouth, having lost part of his tongue during a previous attempt on his life.

Posada was born in Cuba but left after Castro came to power in 1959. In the 1980s, he was acquitted in Venezuela of the airliner bombing, then escaped from prison while awaiting a government appeal. Also the former head of Venezuela's intelligence agency and an ex-U.S. Army 2nd lieutenant, Posada has denied taking part in blowing up the airliner, though declassified FBI documents quote informants as saying he was deeply involved in planning it.

Posada was convicted in Panama in connection with a separate 2000 attempt to assassinate Castro there but received a presidential pardon. In March 2005, his lawyer said Posada had come to Miami and was seeking U.S. political asylum. Under international pressure for harboring an accused terrorist, U.S. authorities arrested Posada in May 2005.

Posada has claimed he was brought across the U.S. border into Texas by a smuggler, but authorities allege he sailed from Mexico to Florida. In January 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Posada in the immigration fraud case after prosecutors argued that he lied about how he got into the United States during interviews in El Paso, and other facts about his past, including the hotel bombings.

Posada was released in April 2007 and has been living in Miami since. Cardone threw out the case a month later, criticizing the government's tactics. An appeals court in New Orleans ruled in 2008, however, that Posada should stand trial again in El Paso.

On Wednesday, Reardon used a slow and deliberate style and called the defendant "a remarkable man" who has spent his life opposing Cuba's communist government and is not on trial for doing so. But he said the case "is about choices, and he chose to lie."

Reardon said the evidence will prove that Posada used a false passport in Guatemala to travel to Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, Mexico, and was photographed having a haircut there in March 2005. He said men who traveled with Posada will testify he eventually sailed to Miami on a shrimp boat converted into a yacht.

Hernandez acknowledged Posada traveled to Isla Mujeres, but only to receive $10,000 from a benefactor. He then returned to Guatemala and paid a smuggler to escort him through Mexico and the northern border city of Matamoros, into Texas. He said the government's informant, Abascal, received at least $150,000 to provide false information and that he had even spied for the Cuban government.

Prosecutors also maintain Posada lied under oath when he denied involvement in the 1997 bombings, which killed Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo at Havana's Hotel Copacabana. Reardon said the jury will hear tapes of interviews Posada granted the New York Times in which he tried to call attention to the bombings because "he wanted more bang for his buck," after fears the attacks had failed to substantially hurt Cuban tourism.

Hernandez said the Times and the reporter who conducted the interviews are biased, and that tapes are not authentic. He said they show Posada actually explains that those bombings were committed by Cuban government operatives, describing them as "an inside job."

"He's a political hot potato for the government and he has been treated that way," Hernandez said.

http://www.kvia.com/news/26471019/detail.html

January 18, 2011


Journalist in Posada case ordered to bring painting to trial

BY JUAN TAMAYO

A journalist who received a painting from anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles as a gift must produce it at his trial and cannot bring in just photographs of the painting, the U.S judge in the case ruled Tuesday.

The ruling came just before Posada attorney Felipe Millan pushed a U.S. Department of Homeland Security lawyer to admit that the charges against the Cuban exile stem from a government trap. The DHS lawyer denied the allegation.

The painting, measuring 33-by-27 inches, was subpoenaed last week by the prosecution in an apparent attempt to prove that Posada had a high regard for journalist Ann Louise Bardach. Defense attorney Arturo V. Hernandez said in his opening statement last week that he would attack Bardachs' testimony.

Bardach fought but lost a battle against a prosecution subpoena to testify about her 1998 interview with Posada, in which he reportedly confessed to a string of bombings of Havana tourist spots. Her tape recordings of the interview also were subpoenaed.

Miami attorney Thomas R. Julin, representing Bardach, filed a motion last week asking U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone to quash the prosecution subpoena of the painting and noted she had already submitted photographs of the work.

Julin argued that requiring her to bring the painting from her home in California to El Paso would be ``unreasonable and oppressive'' because it is irrelevant to the case and the photos are an adequate substitute.

He also noted that transporting the painting ``created a significant risk that it will be damaged or lost'' and that introducing it as evidence would ``deprive Ms. Bardach of her personal property for a substantial period of time in the absence of any justification for doing so.''

Prosecutor Timothy J. Reardon III told Cardone that the motion ``approached the silly'' and asked her to reject it. The judge agreed.

Meanwhile Millan, an El Paso attorney who specializes in immigration law, continued questioning Miami-based DHS attorney Gina Garrett-Jackson about her interviews of Posada after he sneaked into the United States in 2005.

Posada is on trial on 11 charges, mostly relating to allegations that he lied under oath when he testified at several immigration proceedings in 2005 and 2006, including at least one in which he was questioned by Garrett-Jackson.

Millan noted that while immigration proceedings are civil issues, Posada faces criminal charges and alleged that her questions were designed to trap him into lying under oath.

Garrett-Jackson acknowledged she had contacted a U.S. prosecutor in Miami, FBI agents and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as she considered Posada's request for asylum.

But she added added that all her contacts and questions to Posada were ``quite normal'' for a case in which the asylum seeker has a criminal background.

www.miamiherald.com