BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD

PANAMA CITY.—The unannounced arrival of Claudio Grenado, the Venezuelan ambassador to Panama, at the Maritime Court in this city where the trial of Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices has begun, came as a surprise on the morning of March 15.

Before the press cameras, the diplomat stated that that more than ever, his country maintains, and is soon to “reactivate” its application for the extradition of the international terrorist, in accordance with the verdict of the Panamanian court.

“I am following the trial closely because, depending on its decision, we intend to reactivate our extradition application that is still current,” he announced.

“The sentence given that gentleman for the sabotage of the Cubana Aviation passenger plane is a short one and that is the result of a certain coexistence that the former 4th Republic government had with anti-revolutionary terrorist groups from Miami,” he stated, noting that Posada not only has to complete the sentence handed down “but also faces for the crime of fleeing from justice.”

Informed of the ambassador’s comments, Rogelio Cruz, defense lawyer for the Miami terrorists and famed in Panama for his defense of drug trafficking capos, once again reverted to insults, calling the Venezuelan diplomat “an instrument of Fidel Castro.”

“The important thing is what Panama says,” Cruz added, who has boasted on other occasions of his “excellent” relations with the Panamanian government.

STRICT SECURITY MEASURES

The trial of international terrorists of Cuban origin Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, Perdo Crispin Remón Rodríguez and Guillermo Novo Sampoll, as well as Cuban-Panamanian Cesar Matamoros and his Panamanian employee José Manuel Hurtado Viveros, commenced at 10:00 a.m. yesterday morning in the midst of strict security measures in the old building that dominates the Canal Zone. It has not been forgotten that Posada escaped from a Venezuelan jail and Jiménez from one in Mexico.

That session of the hearing was entirely confined to reading the somewhat interminable court summons and a certain number of written statements presented at the request of the defense.

On the accused bench, with their backs to the paper-covered high windows – to avoid press camera indiscretions – the accused looked fatter than on their last appearance at the preliminary hearing.

All four were wearing suits and ties, with Jiménez giving himself the extra luxury of sunglasses. The old mercenary spent the morning sucking hard candies and yawning, visibly bored by the reading of the various legal documents.

Judge Hoo Justiniani, a youthful, tall dark-haired man, opened the session with a number of recommendations to the lawyers present – three of them were his professors – calling for respect for the de rigeur rules of decorum.

“All eyes, at national and international level, are fixed on us,” he stated. “I confide in all frankness that the task of acquainting myself with the 44 volumes of documents that constitute the file was not easy.” Judge Hoo was designated to preside over the case in December when his colleague Enrique Paniza decided to withdraw, in the face of pressure – and insults – from Rogelio Cruz.

The accused, captured in November 2000 when 40 kilograms of explosive material was discovered in their car, then declared themselves – one by one – “not guilty” of the charges brought, in response to the judge’s formal question.

A REDUCED MAFIOSI DELEGATION

A reduced delegation of the Miami mafia – fewer than 12 – including the wives of Jiménez and Remón – were present in the courtroom.

In the absence of terrorists Santiago Alvarez Fernández-Magriña, Nelsy Ignacio Castro Matos, Reinol Rodríguez, and their substitutes René Cruz Cruz, Eusebio Peñalver Mazorra and other henchmen that have led the various Miami “delegations” to Panama, the management of the four terrorists has been entrusted to the South Florida capo Ernesto Abreu, son of Ernestino, whose name appears in the Alpha 66 files.

The enforced stay of Posada and his accomplices in Panama is being totally funded by capos of various extremist origins: Armando Pérez-Roura’s Unidad Cubana, and the Cuban Liberty Council headed by Ninoska Pérez-Castellón and Luis Zúñiga Rey, as well as other occult groups.

The visitors are occupying the first row in the courtroom, but without the “fortune,” as in the previous hearing, of such easy access to their imputed relatives, whose seats have been moved away from the public section.

However, the national and international press is strongly represented, with the presence of Reuters, AP, AFP, Notimex and DPA. Just a few days after the tragedy of Madrid, all of them have elected to use the term “anti-Castro” in their cables to designate the four notorious terrorists whose careers include dozens and dozens of acts of violence toward Cuba and various other countries in the course of more than 40 years.

‘BLOOD WAS TO RUN HERE’

“This is a precious moment to demonstrate to the world that Panama has sovereignty, dignity, pride and a love for its own laws,” stated prosecution attorney Rafael Rodríguez on his arrival at the court.

“Blood was to have been spilled here. There was going to be an attempt on the Panamanian people. The moment has finally arrived when those gentlemen, hired killers, murderers, bandits and mafiosi must be condemned for once and for all so that they can never again sow mourning and pain in the land of Bolívar, Martí and our leaders and martyrs.

The lawyer, who represents various Panamanian trade unions, affirms that there is “a mountain of completely irrefutable evidence. Practically, we are not going to pay any attention to the defense lawyers. Eagles don’t hunt mosquitoes.”

Attacking the delaying tactics of the defense, Rodríguez affirmed: “They are putting up a smokescreen because they have no other way of justifying the large quantity of money they are being paid.”

“There are 12,000 pages on file detailing the charges against them including drug trafficking, murder, double-dealing, theft…they’re fodder for the entire penal code,” he concluded.

For his part, fellow attorney Silvio Guerra ridiculed the alleged presence of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the case, as was loudly proclaimed by Cruz: “I don’t believe that any OAS observer would come here to sponsor this crime or international terrorism, to endorse those who attempted to take the lives of hundreds of people in this country!”

According to the Panamanian public prosecution, Posada Carriles was planning to assassinate Castro via an explosive device whilst the leader was speaking at the University of Panama on November 18, 2000 following the Ibero-American Summit.

Cuban intelligence discovered the plot a few days earlier and alerted the Panamanian police, who arrested Posada and his alleged accomplices before they were able to plant the explosives, which were later found inside a suitcase in a rental car.

The Panamanian court excluded the attempted assassination charge because there were no detonators were found for the explosives.

Carriles’ defense is arguing that Castro’s security set a trap, planting the explosives in his rental car, whilst the accused was in Panama to help a high-ranking Cuban official defect from the island.

“There is no proof to convict them and we hope that they will be found innocent,” Rogelio Cruz, defense lawyer and former Panamanian attorney general, informed the press. Panama has rejected extradition applications by Cuba and Venezuela, where Posada lived from 1960.

“If he is found innocent (Luis Posada Carriles), Venezuela is demanding the extradition that we have already requested as he has a case pending here for his jailbreak,” said Flavio Granados, Venezuelan ambassador to Panama.

Cuba has also accused Posada of using Venezuela as a base for planning the 1976 attack on a Cubana Aviation plane over Barbados, in which 73 people died.

Supposedly dressed as a priest, Posada escaped from prison in Venezuela in 1985 where he was serving a sentence for his involvement in the 1976 attack. He is also suspected of being the mastermind behind a bombing campaign of Cuban tourist facilities in 1997.

Jiménez also escaped from prison in Mexico where he was serving a sentence for the murder of D’Artaignan Díaz.

“The Panamanian authorities must convict these terrorists, this is what Cuba and the relatives of those who died in the plane are expecting,” Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque told the press during a recent visit to Panama City.

If convicted, the men could face sentences ranging from three to 10 years.

EMOTION AMONGST THE RELATIVES

As they left the court, relatives of the victims of Posada and his accomplices were moved to see dozens of students and workers lining the street to demonstrate their solidarity.

Lissette Díaz Francos, daughter of Artaignan Díaz Díaz, tried to explain the strange feeling that enveloped her in the courtroom whilst she sat opposite Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, the terrorist who gunned down her father 28 years ago in the street in Merida, Mexico.

“It was quite a hard moment for me, I felt a bit of anger, rage. But also sadness and suffering,” she explained. “It’s a pity he was wearing dark glasses because I wanted to see his eyes. I was watching him the whole time. I told myself that I had to watch him to see if I could read anything in his face.

“There are times when a person’s eyes say a great deal,” she concluded.

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