Nightline 5/17: Bush-in-a-box (the Posada affair)

[Bozita]

from the show's email:

End of the Run

May 17, 2005


In a post-9/11 world, when immigrants with any remote link to terrorism are being deported from this country, a man with a checkered past shows up in the United States and applies for political asylum. He's a Cuban exile wanted for the downing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed 73. Fidel Castro has demanded his arrest, and the Venezuelan Government is seeking his extradition for the 1976 bombing. To many in the Cuban-American community, his fight to overthrow the Castro regime makes him a hero. So, what is he? A freedom fighter or a terrorist? This afternoon, he was picked up by Homeland Security agents in Miami. It's a fascinating tale.


Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. Ever since the days and weeks following the tragic events of 9/11, the Bush administration has been rounding up anyone in this country with any link to terrorism anywhere in the world. They want them out of this country immediately. So along comes a man with a long and established track record of violence against Cuba, and he's applied for political asylum in this country. That's a tricky one in post-9/11 America. His name is Luis Posada Carriles. ABC correspondent Jeffrey Kofman spoke with him this morning in a secret location in Miami, and now he's being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jeffrey Kofman will report on the day's bizarre events.

And State Department correspondent Jonathan Karl tells us who Luis Posada Carriles is and why the United States has a long and secret relationship with him. Declassified documents show a link to the CIA and the FBI in the downing of the Cubana Airliner in 1976 that Posada allegedly helped orchestrate. It turns out the CIA knew about the plot and did nothing to warn the Cuban government. Luis Posada Carriles has a long standing relationship with the CIA -- as an anti-Castro exile -- and Jonathan Karl takes a look at why that's significant vis-à-vis his request for asylum from the U.S. government.

Ted Koppel speaks to the president of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon. We'll bring you up to speed as we follow an ever-changing story.

We hope you'll join us.

Gerry Holmes & the "Nightline" staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau

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1. This will be an interesting saga to watch......

I hope they bring up Posada's buddy Orlando Bosch. He too is a terrorist.

"Flight 455 flew from Guyana to Trinidad and from Trinidad to Barbados. The plane was then scheduled to fly to Kingston, Jamaica, before making its final stop in Havana.

Eight minutes after the plane took off from Barbados, a bomb exploded. ''We have an explosion on board,'' the pilot radioed to the control tower. "We're descending fast. We have fire on board.''

The pilot struggled to keep the plane airborne for several minutes, but it ultimately crashed into the Caribbean, five miles short of Barbados' Seawell Airport. All 73 people aboard the plane died, including 58 Cubans and 11 Guyanese."