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Article Excerpt
On Aug. 26, outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardoned four known terrorists jailed in 2000 on charges related to an alleged assassination plot against Cuban President Fidel Castro. Cuba immediately broke diplomatic relations with Panama, calling Moscoso an accomplice to terrorism. Martin Torrijos, Moscoso's successor, condemned the pardons and promised to work for an early return to normal diplomatic relations.
During the November 2000 Ibero-American Summit held in Panama City, Castro announced that he had evidence that confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles would attempt to assassinate him during the summit. The plan was apparently to set off explosives at a packed Universidad de Panama auditorium where Castro was to give an address. Castro said that the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) was behind the conspiracy (NotiCen, 2000-11-30).
Posada, Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, Pedro Crispin Remon, and Guillermo Novo Sampoll--all of Cuban origin--have long histories as anti-Castro activists, and all have been imprisoned at one time or another on terrorism or terrorism-related charges.
Posada, the most notorious of the four, was convicted in absentia by a Venezuelan court for his role in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 passengers. In a 1998 series of interviews with The New York Times, Posada said he directed various terrorist attacks against Cuba including the 1997 bombings of Havana tourist hotels and restaurants (see EcoCentral, 1998-08-13).
Panama refuses to extradite
In March 2001, Moscoso refused Cuba's extradition request for the four accused terrorists, arguing that Panamanian law prohibits extradition to any country that has the death penalty. Cuba has a long-dormant death penalty but said it would limit sentences in this case to a maximum of 20 years imprisonment. At the time, Posada was 72.
Venezuela also asked for Posada's extradition because he was still wanted there for the 1976 airliner...
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More articles from NotiCen: Central American & Caribbean Affairs
COSTA RICA CABINET BAILS, PACHECO PICKS WEAK SECOND TEAM., September 16, 2004
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