BY JOSE DE LA OSA and LOURDES PEREZ—Granma daily staff writers—

PRESIDENT Fidel Castro commented on the chronological details of the doings of notorious terrorist Luis Posada Carriles from March 14, 2005, when the Santrina – on which his buddy Santiago Álvarez was also traveling – ran aground on Isla Mujeres, right before the January 24 deadline set by an immigration judge in El Paso, Texas, for announcing his decision on the petition by Posada’s lawyer to grant him probation.

In a televised "Roundtable" program on January 22, Fidel noted that since April 13, 2005, when the U.S. government was still denying any knowledge of Posada Carriles’ presence in the country, Eduardo Soto, the defense lawyer, said during a press conference that an asylum petition had been submitted, which he thought should be accepted because his client had been registered as a member of the CIA and the U.S. Army since the 1960s.

Four days later, with convincing evidence provided by the Cuban government on the details of Posada Carriles’ illegal entry into the United States, Fidel asked where was the morality, ethics or shame of the U.S. Homeland Security Department, which had not lifted a finger to stop that terrorist, responsible for so many deaths in Latin America. During that same month, he revealed the strategy that Bush was following to give protection and shelter to Posada.

He emphasized that Cuba had not asked for Posada Carriles’ extradition – even though it has every moral and legal reason to do so – but that Venezuela had, given that this individual is a fugitive of that country’s justice system. No response has yet been given to that petition, but Venezuela is emphasizing its validity, given that the situation of the hemisphere’s worst terrorist has nothing to do with a simple immigration case.

However, lawyer Eduardo Soto announced on July 26 last year that he had reached an agreement with the Bush government to grant protection to his client, based on the International Convention against Torture, and receiving assurances that Posada would not be extradited to Cuba or Venezuela; in exchange, he would withdraw the asylum petition. "All of this was a game, a maneuver," Fidel commented.

The U.S. Attorney himself wants to make it appear as though he would be tortured if sent to Venezuela, including the idea that there, Cuba would have access to him. "What we have in that country," Fidel emphasized, "are about 17,000 Cuban doctors and health workers, and they’re not torturing anybody; instead, they’re caring for the health of children, women and elderly people, trying to save their lives."

"Look at the logic, the conduct of these individuals," he emphasized. Further on, he noted that on September 27, 2005, Judge Abbott revealed himself, and ruled that terrorist Luis Posada Carriles should not be deported to either Venezuela or Cuba, basing himself on the aforementioned Convention. Thus, neither should Bush should not be president of the United States, "because he was the one who gave the orders to torture and murder who knows how many people," Fidel stated. "This gentleman bears the burden of a mountain of murders and torture on his shoulders," he affirmed.

The judge’s decision enabled the government to delay its response to the possibility of deportation, and also gave the Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities 90 days to decide how to implement that decision; the U.S. Attorney then had a month to appeal, which did not occur, leaving the way open for Posada to remain in the United States or to be deported to a third country. "What were they going to appeal, if they are all part of the same gang, the same mafia?" Fidel commented. "They were creating all the conditions for setting him free, for doing the same thing that Bush Sr. did with Orlando Bosch."

"That is the same U.S. Attorney that has appealed to the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta against five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters. Look at the trumpeted freedom of independence of the so-called judicial branch, something without precedent," Fidel said.

When they decided not to appeal in Posada’s case, by that time the U.S. government had been planning for a while – based on its usual agencies and Cuban-American mafioso terrorist elements, like those who participated in Kennedy’s assassination – the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

During a speech in November in the University of Havana Aula Magna, Fidel asked where "little Bush" was, and what he was doing with Mr. Posada Carriles, the amiable gentleman who in spite of well-known and shameful facts continues to ride and attempts to hold the reins of the empire; when was he going to answer the question of where Posada Carriles entered that territory, who received him, who gave him permission.

Regarding that, the Cuban president noted during the "Roundtable" program that the U.S. government, its attorney general, the judges, all know how it occurred, and not only that; they know how he participated in the assassination of Orlando Letelier, the sabotage over Barbados of a Cuban passenger plane in mid-flight with 73 people on board, and that he was the one who ordered dynamite-filled cans to be thrown through the windows of the Tropicana nightclub. "They don’t dare to deny it outright; they’re in limbo," he said. "Look at what noble people they are, how respectful of the law and of international regulations. And little Bush has not wanted to respond yet, he’s still keeping quiet there," Fidel emphasized.

Linked to those events are the arrests of Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat in November 2005, although it was only on charges of illegal possession of weapons and false passports; but it is well-known that they have long records as terrorists, as is the case of José Basulto, head of Brothers to the Rescue, who boasted on Miami television of having fired a 22 millimeter cannon at a Havana hotel without facing any consequences to date.

The Cuban president commented on the letter sent out by two members of the U.S. Congress to their colleagues to back a message to the U.S. Justice Department, in which they say that a fugitive terrorist, for whom there is a pending and valid extradition application, should not be treated like any other undocumented immigrant to the United States. The letter calls Posada Carriles the Bin Laden of Latin America and asks for him not to be released.

"They are offering Mr. Posada indulgent treatment; they have not used appropriate witnesses. All of that highlights the false nature of this illegal process, even more so if Bush’s words in August 2003 are recalled: ‘If they give shelter to a terrorist, if they give support to a terrorist, if they feed a terrorist, they are as guilty as the terrorists themselves.’"

"It is clear that this administration is protecting a terrorist by treating Posada, said to be responsible for acts that have led to the death of thousands of innocent people, as though he were just another simple immigrant. An act of terrorism cannot be ignored simply because it has been planned in Miami and not in Tehran, or because the target is Havana and not Washington," Fidel stated.

During his presentation, Fidel analyzed the extremely aggressive policy of the Bush government toward Cuba, intensified since October 2005.

Coinciding with the date of January 26, 2006, the date on which the U.S. government is preparing to free Posada Carriles, a series of strange events has occurred.

Those listed by Fidel include the exhibition in Germany of a highly-publicized film – it remains to be seen what kind of individual made it, who ordered it and paid for it to be filmed – a "CIA file" blaming Cuba and Fidel personally, for the death of the Kennedy in 1963. A very strange coincidence with other purposes, he emphasized.

He mentioned that last October, the USAID assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean participated in a seminar in Madrid by the Cuba Transition Project of the University of Miami’s Cuban-American Studies Institute, and subsequently stated that this transition toward democracy should be made by the Cuban people and that the leaders would have account for themselves.

That month, a British newspaper reported that Cuba was included on the secret list of the U.S. State Department’s Reconstruction and Stabilization Office, a list of 25 countries whose high levels of instability and risk could lead to U.S. intervention.

"Look at these nuts, talking about instability, when they are totally unstable because of their lack of knowledge and commonsense, their lack of shame and basic dignity," Fidel commented. "The government that has the greatest number of bandits and unstable individuals is that one; but that doesn’t mean that anyone is planning to militarily intervene in the United States," he added.

He noted that during that same month, the U.S.-appointed coordinator for transition in Cuba expressed that "the reinforcement of the economic embargo caused losses to the Castro regime of $500 million." That same individual met during that time with the foreign ministries of several European countries.

In November, the U.S. Congress approved the 2006 budgets for science spending and the departments of State, Justice and Commerce, and included $37 million for broadcasts by the ill-named Radio and TV Martí, which represents an increase of $10 million for buying an airplane from which to make these anti-Cuban broadcasts.

"Poor little things," Fidel commented. "They’re going to run up against 100 national radio and television channels that are there not to block these broadcasts, but to educate our people."

He revealed that the U.S. Treasury Department has sent letters to some 200 members of the Venceremos Brigade and Pastors for Peace, asking for information on their last trips to Cuba, the preamble to possible legal proceedings that could end in fines totaling up to $1.5 million – just for having come to Cuba. Some have already been notified that they will be fined.

Moving on to the current demands of the Miami mafia and the Bush administration, he quoted as one of them "to do away with the Cuban Revolution, including by the use of military force, and to bring the Cuban president to trial in the United States.

"How nice of them!" exclaimed Fidel, and stated ironically: "As if they hadn’t tried me in Moncada; I’m scared stiff of them, I’m horrified!"

Among other demands he cited the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows for the trial in the United States of foreign companies investing in Cuban properties that were nationalized after the triumph of the Revolution; and a stricter application of Title IV, which bans the directors of foreign companies and their families from entering the United States. And elimination as such of the migratory agreements, another of the mafia bandits’ demands on the U.S. president, Fidel noted.

On this point legislators of Cuban origin are demanding the immediate a redirection of a percentage of the annual quota of 20,000 visas for the year 2006 for Cubans who are not relocated in third countries after a 120-day stay on the Guantánamo Naval Base.

"On the Guantánamo Naval Base?" asked Fidel, stressing: "They couldn’t sleep for one second for hearing the screams of those being tortured on that base."

He acknowledged that there are authorities in the United States who are interested in other policies, because they are bored and fed up with the mafia pressure.

The president also mentioned claims for the improvement of the ill-called Radio and TV Martí, by the utilization of all means possible (aircraft, satellite transmissions) to get around – and the Cuban leader quoted textually – "Cuba’s successful interference with these transmissions."

They might just as well forget about those things, he said, and not try to claim for themselves all the rights in the world. "We have been cautious, careful, but everything has a limit," he warned.

In relation to the most recent provocations of the U.S. Interests Section (USIS) in Havana, Fidel stated that on January 16 an approximately one-meter high luminous screen was placed at the height of the fifth floor and visible from the outside, via which they are putting out messages of an overtly provocative nature.

The initial message transmitted referred to the birthday of Martin Luther King, and was followed by a combination of quotes from this fighter for civil rights in the United States, both in Spanish and in English, alternating them with selected articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Fidel noted that the 26 quotes from Martin Luther King and the Declaration of Human Rights precepts that were passed across that screen are being grossly abused every day by the torturing, murderous and genocidal government of the United States.

He informed that a few minutes before, foreign journalists gathered outside the USIS and then the first press dispatches began. These are always combined, Fidel highlighted, so that the world will hear of the "audacity, daring and valor" of the empire when it is committing any misdeed of this nature, in violation of all the principles, regulations and laws of the country.

He went on to comment on some of the dispatches from the foreign agencies, and quoted, in first place, that of the AFP, titled "U.S. embassy in Havana exhibits human rights articles" and, among other aspects, notes that the projection of messages could be a new episode in the so-called poster wars in which the government and former head of the USIS, James Cason, were embroiled.

The information supplied by the USIS to the press states that the screen’s significance is to break the "information blockade" that the regime has over the Cuban people and to provide it with "uncensored news."

Fidel mentioned various agency dispatches, with a special mention of the information by Fernando Rasberg of the BBC for its ill-intentioned and tendentious tone.

Returning to his account, our president stated that the same verbal note transmitted to the USIS in relation to the fresh provocations was presented by Dagoberto Rodríguez, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, to the head of the State Department’s Cuba desk who stated that he would transmit the note to his superiors and tried to dismiss the fact that the USIS action constitutes a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, given that the electronic panel is within the embassy building.

In the tenor of the statement by the U.S. official, Fidel asked: "Ah, so from within this building they can shoot, fire with a bazooka, launch a "little" nuclear weapon with a robot so that hopefully it lands in the Havana tunnel?"

Dagoberto rejected such an affirmation on the basis of the provocative nature of this action, he noted.

After developing other aspects of that new USIS provocation Fidel spoke of certain materials, which he described as very interesting, on human rights, and referred to comments on the United States made by o important international figures in the last few days and their demands for the closure of the Guantánamo Naval Base detention center, after condemning the torture and detention of prisoners in this enclave.

Fidel recalled the offer made by Hugo Chávez for surgery to be provided in Cuba for Venezuela to 100,000 low-income people from the United States who are losing their sight due to lack of vision care; that is, extending to them the benefits of Operation Miracle.

"We are in a position to operate here, and we are creating those conditions in Latin America as well, such as the center that is already functioning in Bolivia," he said. "Some 125,000 Venezuelans are still awaiting their operations. We have plans to perform 300,000 operations, but our ability is great."

"We made Chávez’ offer ours and, moreover, we added a further 50,000 operations," Fidel affirmed, "to be offered to the Pastors for Peace for poor U.S. citizens of any religious belief, thinking or ethnic background.

"Our country is prepared to offer 150,000 sight operations on poor people from the United States," he emphasized." We are prepared to send a plane to pick them up in Florida. We will bring them here, we will put them up, we will operate on them, as we have done with people from other countries. Our ophthalmologists are among the best in the world, and the equipment and conditions that we have are unequalled by any hospital in the world," he affirmed.

"We are offering our services free of charge to the poor of the United States," he noted, while calling on the government of that country to see if it will allow them to travel to Cuba to recover their sight or impose hefty fines on them.

The president also mentioned other measures that are increasing the aggression against Cuba, including the Treasury Department refusal last November to renew licenses for the National Council of Churches of the United States to travel to our country; broad support for the annexationist project; plans to obstruct our relations with Iran for considering them a "threat;" and Bush’s praise for the Czech Republic for supporting "the dream of the Cuban people to live in a free and prosperous country."

He recalled the activities of the head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, who organized a celebration in his residence for International Human Rights Day on December 10, and noted in his speech, among other things, that the Cuban government was sowing terror.

"I can understand that they feel terror," said Fidel, "at the growth of the GDP, given the news of the energy revolution, our country’s possibility of increasing our income, and improving – as things are improving – progressively."

He qualified it as idiocy to compare us with members of the Klu Klux Klan; they are the ones who would seem to be doing so if they reject our offer of operating on 150,000 poor citizens, in their majority, Black, he affirmed.

He recalled the sad experience of the passing of Hurricane Katrina over Louisiana, a situation in which Cuba altruistically offered a unit of doctors, who did not go there because that government rejected the offer, but who are the same contingent presently working in Pakistan helping that people.