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Friday, Jun 01, 2007
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MPs write to U.S. House Speaker

Special Correspondent

Criticise withdrawal of charges against `Osama of Latin America'

New Delhi: More than 20 Members of Parliament have written to Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, protesting against the dropping of charges against Luis Posada Carriles, wanted in Venezuela and Cuba for the bombing of a Cuban passenger jet in 1976.

Known as the "Osama bin Laden of Latin America," Posada, a Cuban émigré, was arrested in the U.S. in 2005 for entering the country illegally. Because he was in Venezuela when he planned the Cuban bombing, a 1922 treaty required his extradition from the United States. But the Bush administration refused to do so, charging him only with immigration-related offences. Last month, a U.S. judge dismissed all charges against him.

The MPs described Posada as a "notorious terrorist" and "confessed murderer of 73 passengers of the Cuban Airlines flight... He is also the killer of many other Venezuelan and Latin American people for which he is wanted in Venezuela. He was the mastermind of the serial bomb attacks against Cuban hotels in which one Italian tourist died."

"Double standards"

The dropping of charges against Posada showed "the double standards of the U.S. Government in the matter of terrorism and we would like to remind you of the travesty this attitude commits with regard to International Law and United Nations resolutions," the letter said.

The signatories of the letter include A. Vijayraghavan, Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, Hannan Molla, Abani Roy, Saman Pathak, K.E. Ismail, Abdul Wahab and Tarini Kanta Ray.

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