Slarty's World

So Central America is now on alert for a couple of Al-Qaeda suspects that seem to be in their midst. Seems scary to me, do you suppose Latin America hates the US as much as the Middle East does? Do they have more right to be?

Reuters has an article about the alert, complete with photos so you, too, can identify an Al-Qaeda terrorist.

More on the Luis Posada Carriles story. This was actually revealed a day or so ago in a Miami Herald Interview of Posada. Posada talks about how he managed to sneak into the US. Another example of genuis at work…

Basically, Posada got into Texas with a smuggler. From Texas he rode a bus to Miami. An uneventful ride, except for when the bus was stopped in Fort Lauderdale at 1 am by immigration officials. Here is accounting from the Miami Herald article:

”Now comes the funny part,” Posada said. It was 1:30 a.m. and only about a dozen people remained on the bus. Suddenly, immigration officers boarded the Greyhound for a routine spot check for undocumented foreign nationals, recalled Posada — who had no papers.

The first ones busted were his Mexican friends, he said. Then, according to Posada, one of the officers approached him. He said he kept his cool.

‘An agent said to me, `Sir, your documents,’ ” he said. ‘I said, `I left them at my house.’ He said, ‘How can they be at your house? Don’t you know that by law you have to have them on you at all times?’ I said ‘Sir, I’m 80 years old, I forget things. Right now, I don’t even remember where I’m going.’ ”

There’s no evidence to support Posada’s account, but had an agent detained Posada, it would have been a coup for the Department of Homeland Security. Posada has for several years been on an immigration watch list designed to prevent his entry.

”It was late,” Posada said, cherishing the memory. “I was old, older than I am today. . . . He pointed his finger at me, jabbing it, and kept walking.”

U.S. Border Patrol officers periodically board interstate buses and trains to check the immigration papers of foreign nationals.

Stuff happens quickly sometimes. The last few days have had a ton of news about Luis Posada Carriles. Castro has spoke out about him several times, Cuba staged protest marches past the US Mission, Carriles had a secret press conference, and finally Carriles is captured by US Immigration officials. What happens next should really be interesting. Handing him over to Cuba or Venezuela is probably not the best thing to do in terms of a fair trial for Carriles. On the other hand, doing nothing makes the Bush Administration look hypocritical in its global fight against terrorism.

Posada’s arrest creates dilemma for US – Financial Times

Here is an AP story about Luis Posada Carriles’ key life events. It does a much better job of laying out the events in his life than I did in a previous post. Here is the link via Yahoo!

A Look ar Luis Posada Carriles’ Life – Yahoo(AP)

For a perspective not always heard in the US, read over the following speeches. I find the sensationalism very entertaining. Castro is all worked up about this, gave a multi-hour speech to make his case. If you have time, here is the translated text:

Year of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas

He also gave a shorter speech to kick off an anti-terrorist march. Here is the text to that speech:

Key address by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, president of the Republic of Cuba, at the opening of the great combative people’s march to oppose terrorism. May 17, 2005

Read this article this morning in Pravda, the Russian national newspaper. This article is from April 2003 and starts with the following quote:

“It is not a part of American history that we’re proud of,” Powell said to an American student, who had asked about the role of Nixon’s administration in the coup that toppled the democratic government of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.

The article then goes on to talk about how the State Department immediately distanced the official US position from Powell’s comments. Why can’t a government simply take responsibility for its actions/inactions? In the normal world, admitting to mistakes you have made, no matter how embarrassing or incriminating, builds character and integrity. Seems like a good MO for a government.

The other interesting aspect is the slant that the issue takes from the Russian perspective. Here is the concluding paragraph:

The Socialists are in power again in Chile. The current President, Ricardo Lagos, is the former Allende’s Ambassador to Moscow and his administration made efforts to bring Pinochet to courts. However, the octogenarian Gen. is still free, as well as Kissinger. Both, the masterminds of Chile’s September 11 tragedy can tell a story that still shames the world almost 30 years later.

No editorial comments here, eh? I just assumed that after the fall of the U.S.S.R., Russia would fall lock and step behind the U.S.

USA Regrets Role in Chile’s September 11 Tragedy – PRAVDA.Ru

Interesting article in the NY Times this morning about Luis Posada Carriles, a 77 year old man that has quite a rap-sheet. If you look at everything he has supposedly done, you would label him a terrorist. The only problem is that he did most of the things under the blessing of the United States. Now the U.S. government has to make a choice about whether to grant him asylum (poo pooing all of their no harboring of terrorists rant after 9/11), jail him, or send him to Venezuela to face charges relating to the 1976 Cuban Airline bombing. Here is a brief list of his alleged offenses/activities:

Served in the CIA from 1961-1967
Served in Venezuelan Intelligence agency (Disip) 1969-1974
Linked to 1974 Cuban Airline bombing (Killed 73 folk)
Worked as quartermaster for the El Salvadorian Contras (Backed y the CIA in the Nicaraguan revolution)
November 2000 – Kicked out of Panama after Castro landed, caught with plastic explosives
April 2004 – Was given an 8 year sentence relating to the 2000 charges, he contends that he was set up by the Cuban Spy agency
December 2004- Pardoned for humanitarian reasons

It will be interesting to see how the government politics its way out of this one. I will try to keep you posted.

Cuban Exile Could Test the U.S. Definition of Terrorist – New York Times