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GUEST: Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez of Venezuela

Venezuela, alongside other Latin American nations, condemned last week’s U.S. court decision to release Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, who has been imprisoned for an act of international terrorism. A one time CIA employee, Posada had been convicted and imprisoned in Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner which killed 73 people, but managed to escape. Venezuela has maintained its demand that Posada be extradited. Posada was freed from immigration charges in the US a few days ahead of his scheduled trial date when a federal judge dropped the immigration indictment against him. While he is a flight risk, he is now not even under house arrest. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of hypocrisy in the so-called “war on terror.” Responding to Posada’s release, President Chavez called the Cuban exile, “a murderer, a terrorist, and a torturer” who “enjoys total freedom in the United States.” A recently published declaration by the Cuban government also accused the US of hypocrisy as well as of being in violation of international anti-terrorism treaties. Luis Posada continues to have a deportation order against him for his 2005 entry into the United States. However, a federal judge has ruled out the possibility of extradition to Cuba or Venezuela on the supposed grounds that he might be tortured in either two countries.