Nota de la Conferencia de Prensa que ofreció el Embajador de Cuba en Malasia, Pedro Monzón, por la liberación de Posada Carriles

NEW STRAITS TIMES. MALASIA

KUALA LUMPUR: He has been dubbed the \"most notorious terrorist in the   western hemisphere\".

And despite the fact that a US judge said that he has been \"involved in or associated with some of the most infamous events in the 20th century\", Cuban-born Luis Faustino Clemente Posada Carriles was released earlier this month, to the fury of the Cuban government.

At a news conference at his residence yesterday, Cuban ambassador to Malaysia Pedro Monzon Barata questioned the motives of the US court.

Posada was scheduled to be tried for a 2005 immigration offence on May 11, but the 79-year-old was released on April 6 by US Court of Appeals judge  Kathleen Cardone.

Monzon said the \"infamous events\" included \"the Bay of Pigs invasion,
Havana hotel bombings, the Iran-Contra affair, the 1976 bombing of Cubana de Aviacion Flight 455, the 1997 tourist bombings in Havana and the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy\".
Citing statements made by President Fidel Castro\'s government and the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Monzon questioned the US government\'s action in releasing Posada, while five other Cubans remain imprisoned for fighting terrorism.

He claims Posada\'s release was organised by the White House so he wouldn\'t divulge secrets from his period as a US special services agent in Operation Condor and the wars in Cuba, Nicaragua and other countries.

\"The US government has all the information and legal mechanisms to
rearrest Posada, but what they lack is the political will.

\"This contradicts President George Bush\'s call: \'If you harbour a
terrorist, if you support a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you will
be as guilty as the terrorist\'.\"

In 1976, Posada was arrested and sentenced to jail in Venezuela for the Cubana jetliner bombing which claimed 73 lives when it crashed near Barbados. But the CIA reportedly helped him escape prison in 1985, and he travelled through Honduras and Mexico using forged passports, before slipping into the US.

Monzon said like Cuba, NAM member countries condemned Posada\'s release and demanded his extradition.

\"Posada\'s accomplices have confessed, and declassified FBI and CIA
documents implicate him in the crimes.\"

Monzon said that Posada, who has a degree in chemistry, served the US Army, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency as an expert in explosives, anti-guerilla combat and intelligence.

According to Monzon, Posada is believed to be hiding in Miami, Florida.