Injustice is Justice

In reviewing Posada’s known career, the Bush family name appears on several occasions. In 1960 Bush senior was running his oil company, Zapata Drilling, out of Houston. He was also recruiting for the CIA’s planned Bay of Pigs invasion and some CIA meetings allegedly were held in Zapata offices. After the Bay of Pigs failure, Bush senior was critical of the Kennedy administration’s effort there and he urged a new invasion of Cuba. 

In 1976, when Bush senior was made CIA director, he put in charge of special operations the head of the Miami CIA station, who had been and continued to be Posada’s direct supervisor. In 1976 the CIA urged the various violent anti-Castro groups in Florida and New Jersey, such as Omega 7 and Alpha 66, to merge under one authority, which was called CORU and was headed by Bosch. At that time Zapata had drilling contracts in Venezuela and Jeb Bush (now governor of Florida) was working for a Texas bank in Caracas. According to recently declassified reports, the CIA, which had offices, operatives, and assets in Caracas (besides Posada), was at least aware of the two failed attempts to bomb Cubana civilian airliners in the summer of 1976. About a week before the successful bombing on October 6 it received a report, “We’re going to hit the Cuban airliner,” from an “informant” —likely Posada. 

As CIA director, Bush senior did not warn potential passenger/crews of any of the pending attacks on Cubana airliners, nor did he advise President Ford of these projects. The CIA tried to get Posada and Bosch out of Venezuela before they could be charged and helped in the successful effort to delay court proceedings. Bush senior was vice president in 1985 when Posada was helped to escape Venezuelan custody. In 1985-87 Bush senior’s assistant was getting direct reports from Posada’s partner Felix Rodriguez (a Bush senior personal friend) in the Contra supply operation. Bush senior was president in 1990 when he deferred Bosch’s deportation, thereby allowing him to live freely in Miami. This overruled the strong recommendation of his own Justice Department, which had implicated Bosch in over 50 terrorist crimes both inside and outside the U.S. Bush junior was president last fall when the outgoing president of Panama pardoned Posada. 

When it became apparent this spring that Posada was living in Miami, Venezuela requested that he be extradited to Caracas to complete his trial there and asked that he be held in custody until the extradition court determined the matter (the request was denied). In May, Secretary of State Rice, who must make the decision on filing the extradition case, indicated vaguely that she was going to wait for the immigration matter before deciding. On June 15, Venezuela filed its formal extradition demand, with 500 pages of overwhelming evidence that Posada committed the 1976 Cubana murders in Venezuela, in addition to interrogating people by torture there. Although U.S. law is clear that extradition takes precedence over deportation, the State Department has neither done nor said anything about extradition, except to indicate its opinion that the law is being followed. 

The only torture evidence offered by Posada was the testimony of his old friend and supervisor in DISIP, Chaffardet, who opined that Posada likely would be tortured in Venezuela. His evidence was equivocal, often using words like “subjected to humiliation or torture.” His opinion was not based on knowledge of the Venezuelan system, but on one case. He claimed that when he was in court once last year, the three men accused of murdering Venezuelan prosecutor Danilo Anderson were brought in three days after their arrest with black eyes and swollen lips. (At the time of his death, Anderson was investigating U.S. funding through the NED and CIA of the prior Chavez coup and recall.) Chaffardet also testified that he “agreed with” a U.S. State Department report, which said the three men’s “lawyers alleged” they had received electric shocks, and the judge called for an investigation, which had not been completed. 

The U.S. lawyers did not cross examine Chaffardet. He came across as a respected, reputable lawyer. If they had brought out his relationship to the 1976 Cubana airliner bombing, his credibility would have been destroyed. Obviously he doesn’t want Posada to face a trial because his own participation in the bombing, as well as the CIA’s, would be exposed. Lawyers’ allegations are not evidence and one incident, even if true, does not condemn an entire system, especially when the incident is being investigated. Judge Abbott, however, said this was sufficient to make a “prima facie” case and he will defer Posada’s deportation. 

It doesn’t seem rational or just to protect a CIA mass murderer and torturer from facing justice out of fear he’ll be tortured where there’s no real evidence that he will be tortured. If there is no rational explanation, the only thesis must be the Orwellian one: in the U.S. today, injustice is justice.