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US opposes release of anti-Castro militant
EL PASO, United States, 5 (AFP) - The US
government opposed releasing Luis Posada
Carriles, pictured in 2003, an anti-Castro
militant wanted by Venezuela in the 1976
bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed
73 people, court papers show.
The US government opposed releasing Luis
Posada Carriles, an anti-Castro militant
wanted by Venezuela in the 1976 bombing
of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people,
court papers show.
A judge last month recommended that Posada
Carriles, who is being held on immigration
charges, be freed because no country was
found to accept him, other than Cuba and
Venezuela, both of which want to try him
for a series of bombings.
The US Justice Department said in its filing
Thursday that Posada Carriles, 78, should
look harder for a country that will receive
him, given his "uncommon ability to
facilitate his own removal through high-level
government connections in multiple Latin
American countries."
"Posada identified an extraordinary
range of foreign high profile contacts and
prospects for removal that he only partially
pursued," it said.
The court filing comes on the eve of the
Cuban airline bombing's 30th anniversary.
Venezuela, of which Posada Carriles is
a citizen, said the United States should
extradite him to stand trial in the bombing.
But it has also failed to find another
third country that would accept him.
The United States refused, saying he might
then be handed over to Cuba, which also
says he committed terrorist bombings and
killed an Italian citizen in the process.
Posada Carriles has been in a Texas jail
since May 2005 for entering the United States
illegally.
B.C. girl forced to stay in Cuba, mom
charged by police says
CBC via Yahoo! Canada News,
October 5, 2006.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Department is
investigating the case of a nine-year-old
B.C. girl who is allegedly being forced
to stay behind with relatives in Cuba after
her mother got into trouble with police
during a recent trip to the country.
Dunia Garcia, 25, a Cuban-born permanent
resident of Canada, said Wednesday that
her daughter Amanda was not allowed to return
with her to their home in Vernon, B.C.,
after the trip in August and is staying
with family members in the capital of Havana.
Dunia and Amanda, who was also born in
Cuba, are still considered Cuban citizens,
having moved to Canada from Cuba three years
ago.
Dunia said she was charged with assault
after an incident involving a Cuban police
officer at a check stop, held for two days,
told not to leave the country, but suffered
a miscarriage and then was allowed to return
home to B.C.
Officials, however, ordered her daughter
to stay to force Dunia to return to deal
with the charge, she said.
The ordeal began when Dunia, five months
pregnant at the time, visited her home country
to see relatives. At the routine check stop,
the police officer accused her of forging
her Canadian documents. She insulted him
and took his picture.
"I got mad and said, 'You're stupid,'
" she said.
"I don't want to escape from what
happened. I want to deal with it. But I
don't want to have my daughter there and
me here."
Before she left Cuba, Dunia suffered a
miscarriage, which her common-law husband
Dale Smith believes was triggered by the
stress of the incident.
"It's a result of all the stress going
on. She basically demanded they let her
go, and they said, 'Yeah, you can go.' They
said her daughter couldn't go back with
her so she would return and deal with this
situation with police," he said.
"They are holding her as collateral
for her mom to come back to Cuba."
Canadian officials said they have limited
influence in a case involving a mother and
daughter who are still citizens of Cuba.
Namibia: Namibians to Study in Cuba
AllAfrica.com, October
5, 2006.
The first group of 30 Namibian students
to study at Cuban universities under a bilateral
agreement for the next five years, left
on Tuesday evening from the Hosea Kutako
International Airport.
Senior officials from both the ministry
of Education and the embassy of Cuba bade
the students farewell, the first group of
a total number of 92 students who will also
leave over the next few days.
More than 1300 Namibian students, among
them personalities like the minister of
Fisheries and Marine Resources, dr Abraham
Iyambo, and the Director of the National
Planning Commission, Helmuth Angula, completed
tertiary studies in Cuba.
"The selection and recruitment process
by the ministry of Education took about
four months before we came up with the final
list of students to study with full scholarships
from the Cuban government. I am happy with
the candidates selected in a transparent
and fair manner from all the regions of
the country," said the deputy director
of education in the Khomas Region, Nathalia
Goagoses, who accompanied the first group
of 30 students to Cuba via London. The average
age of the students is between 20 and 25
years.
According to the Second Secretary of the
Cuban embassy in Windhoek, the 92 scholarships
were offered in the brotherly spirit that
exists between the Namibian and Cuban nations.
"Under the agreement, Namibia was
initially supposed to pay for the scholarships,
but in the end my government decided to
absorb all the costs as a humanitarian gesture
to the people of Namibia as part of human
resource development and in line with the
Namibian government's Vision 2030 goals,"
said Second Secretary, Evelio Sanchez, of
the Namibian students, most of who will
follow courses in civil engineering, Mathematics,
Agriculture and Science.
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