MIAMI5

The lost illusions of Posada and
his accomplices
BY JEAN GUY ALLARD
-Granma International special correspondent-

PANAMA CITY.- Traumatized. There aren’t many other words to describe Posada Carriles and his three henchmen on leaving the court on Thursday, December 5 after discovering the extent of the deceit practiced on them over the months by their defense attorney drugs lawyer Rogelio Cruz.

Posada, 74; Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, 67; Guillermo Novo Sampoll, 62; and Pedro Remón, 58, leave Panama City’s Maritime Court to be taken back to El Renacer prison, when they thought they were going to walk free, but were deceived by their defense attorney, drugs lawyer and millionaire Rogelio Cruz.

Very taken aback by events, the Miami buddies of Posada and his accomplices, headed by Ignacio Castro Matos and other known terrorists, leave the courthouse.

Posada’s Puerto Rican driver, in whose vehicle the explosives were found, hides his face from the press cameras.

“Jail for terrorist Posada Carriles!” exclaimed a large group of Panamanians in solidarity with Cuba as he left the Maritime Court, located in Panama’s Ancón municipality.

The “old terrorist,” as a news dispatch referred to him, now faces not only the prospect of waiting a further few months on remand for the completion of the proceedings against him and his partners in crime, but is now virtually convinced that the legal conspiracy mounted by his right-hand man Rogelio Cruz is so flimsy in terms of law and jurisprudence that it guarantees a lengthy prison term behind the bars of El Renacer model prison.

When they arrived at the courtroom, Posada (74), Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo (67), Guillermo Novo Sampoll (62) and Pedro Remón (58) demonstrated an arrogance that clearly indicated a strong conviction that they would be leaving the jail in which they had spent the last two years, if not by the end of the hearing then at least by the end of the year. An arrogance that was shared by their terrorist friends who had traveled from Miami for the trial.

Cuban ambassador Carlos Zamora commented later to Granma International: “It would seem that they had been fed the idea that after the hearing they would walk free. Over the last few days the media here and statements from their defense painted a rosy future for them. It was very strange because what was stated in the media had nothing to do with the legal hearing in itself.”

The diplomat explained: “They gave the impression that they wanted to mount a media show here to try and throw an image at the world where the version they are projecting in the media predominates. And to do that they mobilized a whole group of people to reinforce this triumphalist feeling that they have been fed.”

Cruz, a former state attorney and millionaire who lost his position some years ago due to his links with Colombian drug cartels and a series of financial maneuvers that could have sent him to jail, is confronting a team of top-level lawyers in this country, doctors and university professors who are exercising their skills on behalf of various popular groups. And without charge, out of solidarity with trade union, student and indigenous organizations and the Cuban Revolution.

“The preliminary hearing was suspended because the procedure that they didn’t wish to recognize has to be respected,” stated Rafael Rodríguez, one of these experienced lawyers, an eminent university professor who was a respected attorney for the nation.

“They wanted to pressure the hearing in the hope of a possible reprieve, an absurd notion as it would place Panama in a difficult position nationally and internationally, because when Cuba has claimed extradition and Panama has refused it, then Panama is obliged to judge these gentlemen here, both legally, morally and politically.”

When the defense outfit repeated ad nauseam and with the help of the national media that only four lesser charges remained against its clients, the lawyers representing the popular groups were more convinced than ever of obtaining a trial in a higher court, charging Posada and his accomplices on 10 counts “already perfectly demonstrated,” including an attempt on the life of a head of state, endangering Panama’s relations with a friendly nation, using false documents, attempting against freedom to meet, the crime of a statement of a criminal act (demonstrated in writing by Pedro Remón), illegal association, possession of explosives and attempted collective homicide.

According to the lawyer, the reprieve dreamed up by Posada and his accomplices is “an illusion that their defense lawyers have gotten into their heads to get money out of them, to get money out of the Cuban exiles in Miami who have all the money they want. They put it into their heads that they were going to be released for lack of evidence… when they were virtually caught in flagranti!”

The expert affirmed “But they can spend as much money as they want, because they’re going to be sentenced!” and added: “There is going to be a heavy sentence for committing a number of crimes and for having undermined Panamanian sovereignty with their mercenary vocation and criminal spirit… there’s no terminology to describe these individuals’ deformed moral character. They’re aberrant… totally dehumanized, without any decency or honor; they don’t believe in anyone but themselves, just in money…

His colleague Silvio Guerra, another eminent lawyer from the Panamanian capital, author of various works and president of the Latin American Academy of Procedural Law, comments: “Not only are we talking about a case of attempted magnicide against the president of the Republic of Cuba, which was their basic objective, but we are also talking about them trampling over our soil, trampling over our sovereignty, abusing our principles of jurisdiction and territoriality…”

On the issue of “applications for mercy” expressed by Cruz in his many statements to the media, the lawyer asked in reference to Posada’s attempt to blow up the University of Panama amphitheater: “What mercy could he be talking about when, according to our expert technical-judicial police expert witnesses, the expanding waves of the explosion would have ranged to 25,000-26,000 feet? They were going to kill students, lawyers, economists, trade union leaders… all our people were represented there.”

Explaining the stupefied reaction of Posada and his killers at the higher court decision to suspend the preliminary hearing, as requested by lawyer Julio Berrios from the legal team representing the popular groups, Guerra described it as that of someone having cold water thrown over them.

“Here in Panama, we say: ‘Thrown out of joint!’ because they thought they were going home and their relatives were there. Well, let all their relatives come, let anyone who wants to come… this is strictly a question of law! And what they committed is a string of crimes!

“Let them come and try to teach the Panamanians how to charge people… they boast of having a lot of power, that the Cubans in Miami have economic clout - they’ve even let drop that one of them went about with a briefcase and a couple of million! The fact is that Panama is traditionally a country friendly with Cuba and nobody can walk in here and try to disrupt that friendship, to try and point out what we should or shouldn’t do…”

The arrogance of Posada and his accomplices - those imprisoned with him, those that are still free and those in Miami is explained by ambassador Zamora: “They are so used to having impunity, to doing whatever they want that they believe everyone will bow down to them, that everybody’s afraid of them and that the powerful friends protecting them can manipulate everything their way…”

Visibly satisfied with “this first step towards setting a legal procedure in the right direction; in trying a bunch of terrorists for what they are: “Terrorists and murderers!” the ambassador does not discount another possibility outside of the legal framework.

“Undoubtedly, there’s now more possibility of the plans for springing them - there are existing plans, real plans - taking on greater force. Given the prospect of losing in a legal trial - and I think the result of this hearing demonstrated how difficult it is going to be for them to elude justice if the legal procedures are followed - the only alternative open to Posada and his buddies is to try and find a way of evading justice…

“And this only has one name, which is fleeing… and I believe that international and Panamanian public opinion should be fully aware of that,” the Cuban diplomat concluded.

While Luis Posada Carriles, the infamous terrorist chief and his accomplices - detained or at liberty - of a monstrous, clearly and arrogantly see themselves as being above the law, five Cubans who risked their lives combating such criminals’ plans are serving massive sentences in five separate penitentiaries on U.S. territory. A situation that provokes the indignation of Carlos Zamora, the Cuban ambassador in Panama.

“Five young men who have never planted explosive devices, have not killed anyone; on the contrary have fought to avoid terrorism blossoming and have saved lives not only in Cuba but in the United States itself. When you see how they have been treated and compare it with these characters who are here, in easy prison conditions; when you see their underlings and partners in crime coming from Miami, from the same riff-raff, walking about freely over there… the only feeling that can provoke is one of indignation.”

It is the case that the presence of various known Miami terrorists in the courtroom was outrageous.

“Various individuals who were here should be in detention with the accused and subjected to the same trial, because they were part of the same conspiracy,” affirms the longstanding diplomat.

“There were characters here like (Ignacio) Castro Matos, a terrorist element and another one who didn’t come but has been constantly moving in this direction, cooperating with Posada’s terrorist group: Santiago Alvarez Fernández Magriña. We have asked the Panamanian authorities to detain him as a terrorist implicated in recent events in our country, where he is wanted to stand trial.

“Then there are other elements like Eusebio Peñalver and the rest, who are people known for their activities associated with planned attacks on Cuban interests and against the life of President Fidel Castro himself. Those are the ones that were here and I think it is a disgrace for everyone that terrorists can be freely operating in this country without having to face the law, with impunity.”