Venezuelan Embassy Statement on Luis Posada Carriles

[XXPANTHAXX]

EMBASSY OF THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

WASHINGTON, D.C.

STATEMENT

March 22, 2006

Today’s announcement by Immigration Customs and Enforcement Agency (ICE)
stands in marked contrast to the sound of the Department of State’s
silence on Venezuela’s request for Posada Carriles´ extradition. We
again call on the White House to honor its international treaty
obligations and either extradite or prosecute Luis Posada Carriles for
73 counts of first degree murder. A war on terrorism ought not be fought
in an a la carte fashion. There is no such thing as a friendly
terrorist. All terrorists are enemies of justice. None deserve impunity.

Rather than extraditing him to Venezuela to stand trial for 73 counts of
first degree murder, the United States Government continues to shelter
the international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles under the guise of
immigration proceedings. Today’s announcement by ICE that Posada
Carriles will continue in its custody for the time being is nothing more
than an attempt to divert public attention from the real issue: that for
the past nine months the United States Government has ignored the
extradition request filed on June 15, 2005 with the Department of State.

Luis Posada Carriles is the Osama Bin Laden of Latin America. He is
responsible for one of the bloodiest attacks on a civilian airliner in
the annals of civil aviation. In 1976, he blew up a passenger plane with
73 innocent persons on board including a pregnant woman.

After Venezuela requested Posada Carriles´ extradition, the State
Department waited almost six months to send our Embassy a Diplomatic
Note on November 9, 2005 to inform us that it would “soon� be forwarding
specific questions and concerns about the case. “Soon� has yet to
arrive, and on March 13, 2006 our Embassy filed the latest of several
Diplomatic Notes to the State Department requesting that it instruct the
Department of Justice to present Posada´s extradition case to a federal
court and execute an extradition detainer on the terrorist.

It is cynical to use immigration regulations to give the appearance of
justice in a case that calls out for extradition or criminal
prosecution, particularly in a case in which the families of the 73
victims call out for the extradition or prosecution of this criminal.