In September 2005, Venezuela?s Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez called the 77-year-old Posada ?the Osama Bin Laden of Latin America? and accused the Bush administration of applying ?a cynical double standard? in its War on Terror.
?The United States presents itself as a leader against terrorism, invades countries, restricts the civil rights of Americans in order to fight terrorism, but when it is about its own terrorists, it denies that they be tried,? Alvarez said.
Alvarez also denied that Venezuela practices torture. ?There isn?t a shred of evidence that Posada would be tortured in Venezuela,? Alvarez said, adding that the claim is particularly ironic given widespread press accounts that the Bush administration has abused prisoners at the U.S. military base in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba.
Secret History
Declassified U.S. documents show that after the Cubana Airlines plane was blown out of the sky on Oct. 6, 1976, the CIA, then under the direction of George H.W. Bush, quickly identified Posada and Bosch as the masterminds of the Cubana Airlines bombing.
But in fall 1976, Bush?s boss, President Gerald Ford, was in a tight election battle with Democrat Jimmy Carter and the Ford administration wanted to keep intelligence scandals out of the newspapers. So Bush and other officials kept the lid on the investigations. [For details, see Robert Parry?s Secrecy & Privilege.]
Still, inside the U.S. government, the facts were known. According to a secret CIA cable dated Oct. 14, 1976, intelligence sources in Venezuela relayed information about the Cubana Airlines bombing that tied in anti-communist Cuban extremists Bosch, who had been visiting Venezuela, and Posada, who then served as a senior officer in Venezuela?s intelligence agency, DISIP.
The Oct. 14 cable said Bosch arrived in Venezuela in late September 1976 under the protection of Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, a close Washington ally who assigned his intelligence adviser Orlando Garcia ?to protect and assist Bosch during his stay in Venezuela.?
On his arrival, Bosch was met by Garcia and Posada, according to the report. Later, a fundraising dinner was held in Bosch?s honor during which Bosch requested cash from the Venezuelan government in exchange for assurances that Cuban exiles wouldn?t demonstrate during Andres Perez?s planned trip to the United Nations.
?A few days following the fund-raising dinner, Posada was overheard to say that, ?we are going to hit a Cuban airplane,? and that ?Orlando has the details,?? the CIA report said.
?Following the 6 October Cubana Airline crash off the coast of Barbados, Bosch, Garcia and Posada agreed that it would be best for Bosch to leave Venezuela. Therefore, on 9 October, Posada and Garcia escorted Bosch to the Colombian border, where he crossed into Colombian territory.?
The CIA report was sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, as well as to the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies, according to markings on the cable.
A Round-up
In South America, investigators began rounding up suspects in the bombing.
Two Cuban exiles, Hernan Ricardo and Freddy Lugo, who had left the Cubana plane in Barbados, confessed that they had planted the bomb. They named Bosch and Posada as the architects of the attack.
A search of Posada?s apartment in Venezuela turned up Cubana Airlines timetables and other incriminating documents.
?The United States presents itself as a leader against terrorism, invades countries, restricts the civil rights of Americans in order to fight terrorism, but when it is about its own terrorists, it denies that they be tried,? Alvarez said.
Alvarez also denied that Venezuela practices torture. ?There isn?t a shred of evidence that Posada would be tortured in Venezuela,? Alvarez said, adding that the claim is particularly ironic given widespread press accounts that the Bush administration has abused prisoners at the U.S. military base in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba.
Secret History
But in fall 1976, Bush?s boss, President Gerald Ford, was in a tight election battle with Democrat Jimmy Carter and the Ford administration wanted to keep intelligence scandals out of the newspapers. So Bush and other officials kept the lid on the investigations. [For details, see Robert Parry?s Secrecy & Privilege.]
Still, inside the U.S. government, the facts were known. According to a secret CIA cable dated Oct. 14, 1976, intelligence sources in Venezuela relayed information about the Cubana Airlines bombing that tied in anti-communist Cuban extremists Bosch, who had been visiting Venezuela, and Posada, who then served as a senior officer in Venezuela?s intelligence agency, DISIP.
The Oct. 14 cable said Bosch arrived in Venezuela in late September 1976 under the protection of Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, a close Washington ally who assigned his intelligence adviser Orlando Garcia ?to protect and assist Bosch during his stay in Venezuela.?
On his arrival, Bosch was met by Garcia and Posada, according to the report. Later, a fundraising dinner was held in Bosch?s honor during which Bosch requested cash from the Venezuelan government in exchange for assurances that Cuban exiles wouldn?t demonstrate during Andres Perez?s planned trip to the United Nations.
?A few days following the fund-raising dinner, Posada was overheard to say that, ?we are going to hit a Cuban airplane,? and that ?Orlando has the details,?? the CIA report said.
?Following the 6 October Cubana Airline crash off the coast of Barbados, Bosch, Garcia and Posada agreed that it would be best for Bosch to leave Venezuela. Therefore, on 9 October, Posada and Garcia escorted Bosch to the Colombian border, where he crossed into Colombian territory.?
The CIA report was sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, as well as to the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies, according to markings on the cable.
A Round-up
In South America, investigators began rounding up suspects in the bombing.
Two Cuban exiles, Hernan Ricardo and Freddy Lugo, who had left the Cubana plane in Barbados, confessed that they had planted the bomb. They named Bosch and Posada as the architects of the attack.
A search of Posada?s apartment in Venezuela turned up Cubana Airlines timetables and other incriminating documents.
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