by Maria, written for RATB.
On 17 Jan 2011, the trial against Posada Carriles started in an El Paso, Texas Court, despite the attempts by Posada Carriles's solicitor to have it postponed.
Posada Carriles who is 82-years-old, faces eleven charges of fraud, processes obstruction, perjury, making untrue statements, lying to US civil servants during questioning about immigration and citizenship after entering the USA illegally in 2005. Analysts predict that during the trial it is going to be possible to see the link between the defendant and terrorist acts carried out against Cuba.
The judge in charge of the case Kathleen Cardone, agreed to allow the Federal prosecutor's office to present reports from the Cuban authorities regarding the investigations of terrorists attacks against tourist installations in Cuba between 1997 and 1998.
Among the 6000 documents from federal authorities are the documents from the Guatemalan government. These documents confirm the forged Guatemalan passport that Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born Venezuelan-citizen, was using under the name of Manuel Enrique Castillo Lopez. The Penal process began in January 2007 when Posada Carriles was accused of perjury after he claimed that he entered the US through the border between Matamoros in Mexico and Brownsville in Texas.
Prosecutors have strong evidence that Posada got into the US by sea, in the ship Santrina that picked him up in Quintana Roo (Mexico) and that he was then taken from there to Miami with other Cubans that were protecting him.
In 2009 Prosecutors added charges against Posada Carriles claiming that he worked for the CIA as an agent in the 1960s. These new charges were for perjury for his denial about participating in the terrorists acts that killed the Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo. Among the witnesses that the prosecuting attorneys have called are: journalist Ann Louise Bardach and FBI agent Kenneth Marr, an expert in audio taping. Prosecutors will present several witnesses who will testify about his participation in the terrorist acts against Cuba
In addition to the terrorist acts in Cuba, the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela accuses Posada Carriles of participating in the terrorist act against a Cuban airplane in 1976, in which everyone on board, 73 people all lost their lives.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Carriles affirmed that the US government will protect him and they will not send him to jail for a long time. He hopes that his knowledge of US interventions will protect him. Most of the trial evidences are confidential because of the general attorneys petition. He affirmed that the people that worked with him are not there anymore. Those were other times. He did whatever he had to do and he does not have any remorse. He also affirmed that if Castro came through the door he would kill him.
The solicitor that represents Venezuela, José Pertierra, called for the extradition of Posada Carriles to Venezuela and reported that he had received death threats from one of Posada's followers, in the Hotel in El Paso where he is staying. A man threatened him using the same word they used to referred to the people killed in the plane in 1976, dogs. The man said: 'do you want flowers? I will give you flowers, dog. I am in charge of you'
(The flowers are for his graveyard)
