US rejects 'diplomatic asylum' for Assange

[tama]

39. Luis Posada

In legalese diplomatic asylum may be a special OAS case of more general concept of political asylum. Which US at least de facto grants to dictators and terrorist murderers like Posada. According to Wikipedia:

"2010 Texas trial
“ The bottom line is that the Justice Department is trying to hold him accountable for horrible acts of terrorism ... This trial can confirm what everybody already knows, (that) Luis Posada is a leading purveyor of terrorism. ”

— Peter Kornbluh, National Security Archive, Feb 25, 2010 [61]

Posada was accused of lying to U.S. authorities and about his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in Havana in 1997, and went on trial in Texas.[61][17] However many of his backers in the Cuban exile community gathered thousands of dollars for his defense during what they termed a "radio marathon" on Radio Mambí.[61] The tried case against Posada began after he sailed illegally into the United States and applied for political asylum. However, he was not being tried for killing the 73 people aboard the Cubana airliner or the tourists in Havana; his charges revolved around lying to immigration agents about his trip to the U.S. and illegally crossing the border.[61] Prosecutors allege that he deceived them about his passport and arrived on a boat named the Santrina, not on a bus as he had told the government during interviews.[61]

A footnote in a document filed by Posada's lead defense attorney on January 28, 2010, is quite revealing about the kind of classified information that Posada Carriles threatens to expose in the course of the trial. His attorney, Arturo Hernández, argues in that motion, "The Defendant's CIA relationship, stemming from his work against the Castro regime through his anti-communist activities in Venezuela and Central America, are relevant and admissible to his defense." The motion furthermore alleges that the US government had been complicit in bomb-setting in Cuba and asked the court to compel the government to declassify all information that shows the "involvement, knowledge, acquiescence and complicity [of the U.S. Government] in sabotage or bombings in Cuba." Also, the motion requests disclosure of "[t]raining, instructions, memos or other documents reflecting orders to the Defendant to maintain secrecy and not disclose his relationship or information regarding his activities on behalf of the U.S. Government or any of its Agencies." Venezuelan state attorney José Pertierra has interpreted the "bombings" in question as being the 1997 bombings of tourism areas in Cuba, and not necessarily the Cubana Airliner bombing (which did not occur "in Cuba&quot .[62]

Posada was found not guilty on all charges against him.[17][42] After the trial he hugged his lawyers and told reporters he was grateful to the US, the court and the jury for what he said was a fair trial, saying that, "What happened here should serve as an example for justice in my country, Cuba, which is unfortunately in the hands of a dictator."[63]"

"He currently resides in Miami, where he openly attends "right-wing exile fundraisers" and participates in public protests against Fidel Castro's Cuba.[23]"

To me that reads that Posada threatened to publicly expose his participation in US state terrorism if the charges against him are not made go away and political asylum granted. And got what he wanted.