[News] Cuba to UN: extradite Carriles

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Statement by the Permanent Representative of Cuba, Ambassador Orlando 
Requeijo, at the Security Council session. New York, 25 April 2005.



Mr. President,



My delegation wishes to thank the Chairpersons of the Committees created 
under Resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001) and 1540 (2004) for the 
information provided in this session.



However, as we analyse actions to fight international terrorism, Luis 
Posada Carriles, one of the most hideous terrorists of this hemisphere is 
in Miami City, USA. His lawyer has even requested political asylum for his 
client on account of the services he has provided to the United States for 
over 40 years, as a member of the CIA and the US armed forces.



In the name of the “war on terror”, the US government has unleashed 
unilateral wars of aggression, in violation of the Charter and the 
principles of International Law, in which thousands of people have died and 
continue to die, including more than 1500 US youths.



Since last 11 April, the President of the Republic of Cuba has publicly 
provided abundant and reliable information on the criminal background of 
this terrorist, on the means he used to enter US territory and on those 
who, carrying out instructions of the terrorist Cuban American National 
Foundation, facilitated his voyage on board of the shrimp fishing boat 
“Santrina” from Islas Mujeres in Mexico to Miami City.



Therefore, my government cannot understand why the US government has 
remained motionless, has not conducted an in-depth investigation on the 
most recent voyage of the “Santrina” and has not immediately detained and 
interrogated those, such as the well-known terrorist Santiago Álvarez 
Fernández Magriña, a well-known Miami resident, who knows Posada Carriles’ 
whereabouts and also helped him in his illegal entry into the United States.



The US legislation is clear. To provide entry into the United States of an 
avowed terrorist, mainly someone as notorious as Posada Carriles, is one of 
the most serious crimes that may be committed in the country victim of the 
atrocities of September 11, 2001.



Resolution 1373 (2001) adopted by this Council under US request, is also 
clear, when invoking Chapter VII of the Charter, categorically establishes 
the obligation for all States to take effective measures to prevent the 
transit of terrorists, deny refuge not only to terrorists but to those who 
protect them and exchange information leading to their detention.



Moreover, the President of the United States said on 26 August, 2003, that: 
“if you harbor a terrorist, if you support a terrorist, if you feed a 
terrorist, you’re just as guilty as the terrorists”.



Posada Carriles is not unknown to Washington. He was trained and used by 
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out terrorist actions 
against Cuba for over forty years. He perpetrated the in-flight sabotage of 
a Cubana de Aviación civil aircraft, in which 73 persons were killed, and 
also directed a string of Havana hotel bombings in 1997, causing the death 
of the Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo. He has also planned a number of 
assassination attempts on President Fidel Castro, being sentenced for one 
of them, but deceitfully pardoned by the ex-President Mireya Moscoso on 26 
August, 2004.



Mr. President,



My delegation calls upon the US Government, particularly its President, as 
President Fidel Castro has been repeatedly doing since last 11 April, to 
say if he is or not aware of the presence of the terrorist Posada Carriles 
in US territory and to inform the measures he is taking to locate his 
whereabouts in Miami City.



We would consider it very serious, both for the actions being carried out 
by the United Nations against terrorism, and for the credibility of the US 
Government in its self-proclaimed “war on terror”, if Washington would 
decide to harbor Posada Carriles or would resort to legal cunning arguments 
to allow his stay in the United States.



Allowing this avowed terrorist to move freely, enjoying total impunity, 
while imposing long and unjust sentences on Five Cuban Youths fighting 
terrorism, is immoral and greatly irresponsible. It is an insult to all 
victims of terrorism in the world and their relatives.



US authorities face a serious dilemma. Either they definitely align with 
terrorism by protecting this person or they hit hard on terrorism and, in 
compliance with their legal obligations, detain and extradite Luis Posada 
Carriles to Venezuela, where he escaped from prison in 1985.



My Government, while ratifying its willingness to cooperate with justice by 
handing over all information available on this terrorist, urges the 
international community to stay alert at the possibility that Posada 
Carriles abandons US territory unpunished or is killed by internal forces 
in the United States to “solve” the dilemma to which he dragged the 
Government of that country with his presence. We do not wish this man’s 
death. We only want justice to prevail and make him pay for the horrendous 
crimes he has committed during his long terrorist career.



Mr. President,



Once again, my Government reiterates its request to the Security Council’s 
Counter-terrorism Committee, established pursuant to Resolution 1373 
(2001), to evaluate the information submitted by my country, among others, 
in documents S/2002/15 and S/2004/753, in the hope that its work can lead 
to put an end to the impunity enjoyed by those who have committed and still 
commit terrorist acts against Cuba.



Thank you very much.

The Freedom Archives
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