WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt announced that the Foreign Affairs panel that he chairs, the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, will hold a hearing on Thursday, November 15, on the case of Luis Posada Carriles, an alleged Cuban exile terrorist currently living in Miami, FL. 

“It’s important to examine the treatment he has received,” said Delahunt, “because it goes to the heart of American credibility among the family of nations.”

The hearing, entitled “’Diplomatic Assurances’ and Torture: A Case Study into Why Some are Accepted and Others Rejected,” will seek clues from Posada’s background as to why he – unlike other accused terrorists, many of whom have been kidnapped and sent to be tortured in other countries by the Bush Administration – has so far been able to escape an accounting for his alleged crimes.  These include one of the most notorious terrorist attacks in the Western Hemisphere, the midair bombing of a civilian airliner in 1976 that resulted in the deaths of 73 civilians.

Posada has been allowed to live comfortably in the United States, despite his long history of violence or the fact that he is a fugitive from justice in Venezuela and has been linked to terrorist plots in that country, Cuba, Panama, and elsewhere. 

“What is it about Posada that has spared him the treatment that other alleged terrorists have received?” asked Delahunt.  “I’m not advocating that he be sent to be tortured.  But why have so many others, some of whom are later found to be innocent, rendered on much flimsier evidence to a living hell, while Posada walks free?  This stands in stark contrast to the case of Maher Ahar, which this Subcommittee examined several weeks ago. That’s what our hearing will look into.”

The hearing will take place at 3:00 PM on November 15, 2007, in room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. 

Witnesses will include Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archives; Ann Louise Bardach, an author who has tracked Posada’s activities for over a decade; Roseanne Nenninger, the sister of one of the victims in the 1976 bombing; and Arturo Hernandez, Posada’s attorney.

To read witness testimony of:

Mr. Arturo V. Hernandez please click here.
Mr. Blake Fleetwood please click here.
Mr. Peter Kornbluh please click here.
Ms. Ann Louise Bardach please click here.
Roseanne Nenninger, N.D. please click here.

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