THE US government knew that CORU – the group led by Orlando Bosch and that included Luis Posada Carriles – planned to assassinate former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and destroy in mid-air a Cubana Airlines passenger plane in June of 1976.

Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, made public yesterday three declassified documents that have just been made public by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, and which provide irrefutable, additional evidence that the CIA was an accomplice to the terrorist crimes carried out by Bosch and Posada in Cuba, the United States and other countries.

Alarcón was participating in a special roundtable discussion together with President Fidel Castro at the Karl Marx Theater on May 19 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the death in combat of national hero José Martí.

"Those three documents are even more revealing that the previous ones made public a few days ago," Alarcón affirmed.

"One of them is a document that shows that the US government knew of a plot by a group led by Orlando Bosch to blow up a Cubana Airlines passenger plane in June of 1976… that is, a few months before that atrocious act took place over Barbados," he noted.

A large part of another document describes the links between the US embassy in Caracas and Hernán Ricardo, one of the individuals who planted the explosive devices on the plane. "Among other things, they had given him a visa to visit the United States five days before the plane blew up," Alarcón said.

"The third document," he explained, "reveals how Bosch, publicly boasted about the attack on the former Chilean foreign minister and his US assistant in the presence of a CIA informant at a banquet to celebrate the assassination, and announced further acts of terrorism.

"I ask myself how Orlando Letelier’s relatives and Ronnie Moffit’s relatives would feel knowing that the US government not only knew beforehand that Orlando Bosch was not only involved in their murder, but also bragged about it and celebrated it as well," the parliamentary leader commented.

"This document refers to a banquet that took place in the city of Caracas to raise funds, where Orlando Bosch said during a toast: ‘Now that our organization has come out of the Letelier job looking good, let’s get going on something else…’ In those days, these crimes were proclaimed!"

The CIA informant also says in this document that he heard the voice of Bosch’s friend, Luis Posada Carriles "making a comment to someone," Alarcón noted.

"And now I quote him: ‘We are going to strike a Cuban passenger plane and Orlando has the details…’"

But it was not just Orlando who had them: "Mr. Kissinger had them, because this document is a report by the FBI and an analysis by the Department of State, addressed to the secretary of state; from Mr. Harold Saunders to the secretary, who at that time was Mr. Kissinger…"

Alarcón added, "If Miss Rice looks in her files, she will find it, with the advantage that she should have a complete version, given that this recently declassified one is full of deleted passages… The US government has dedicated itself to protecting Posada, to protecting Bosch and all of these murderers; this is the proof!" he stated.

In his turn, President Fidel Castro affirmed that "the empire must be buried with these truths, or at least the extreme-right wing, murdering and shameless clique of cronies in Miami."

"All of the evidence must be found, and then we’ll see how they are going to defend themselves," he commented, noting how with Posada’s arrest, "they are in it up to their necks, and with both feet, I believe, not just one…"

And he noted, "They didn’t disappear him – it wasn’t likely that they would disappear him – they didn’t kill him, because it didn’t suit them to have this man dead, and now they have him there with the paperwork, the processes; it remains to be seen what they give him to eat, it remains to be seen because they are capable of using anything… it remains to be seen what procedures they have for killing…"

Humorously, he compared the White House resident with that Roman emperor who appointed his horse consul: "I have not seen anything more similar than appointing (Roger) Noriega, Otto Reich and (John) Bolton and all of those people to those posts there, in the United States… I think there are horses that know more than those individuals that they’ve appointed!"

Referring to the most recent events around Luis Posada Carriles, he commented that "international opinion will be opposed to all of these maneuvers, to these intrigues, to all of these tricks for protecting a terrorist on the part of a country that has already killed more than 100,000 people, has waged a war that has cost more than 100,000 lives."

"The world will not remain indifferent," he affirmed.

Previously, Alarcón had explained how the US authorities "have managed to reduce Posada to a wetback," in reference to the derogatory term used to describe Mexican immigrants mercilessly pursued by the US immigration services, who deport tens of thousands of them per year.

Posada Carriles is also in a jail in El Paso, Texas, where thousands of immigrants try to cross the border into US territory every year, he noted.

"Posada’s crimes are being reduced to that of a person who entered without a visa… "And they are giving him the opportunity to present himself before a judge to see if he can be let out on bail, and they are giving him an appointment to discuss his migratory status," the president of Parliament commented.

"Where is the war against terrorism? Where are the obligations of the United States to pursue terrorists?" he asked, referring to various international treaties obliging Washington to extradite the dangerous criminal.

"They have reduced him to a wetback… but not just any wetback. Wouldn’t the wetbacks like to be in his shoes! He is ‘very satisfied’ with the treatment he is receiving. Posada has said this through his buddy, Santiago Alvarez, who is violating US law by protecting an illegal."

Alarcón then commented that he would like to know if any Latin American government could mention "the name of a single person, a single citizen from one of their countries who has tried to enter the U.S. and has been arrested without being handcuffed, who is ‘very satisfied’ with his treatment and for whom they have announced a hearing within a month to clarify what he did."

"Within a month, they kick them out… How many Haitians are cast into the sea, how many Mexicans, how many Latin Americans, every day? He is an illegal immigrant, but a first-class one, because he is a friend of Bush!" the Cuban leader exclaimed, adding that "millions are victims of abuse by that same immigration service, and nobody is given that opportunity."

"We are talking about millions of people whom nobody has accused of terrorism. And Posada, an assassin, is merely charged with having entered without a visa!"

When the roundtable was over, President Fidel Castro made a surprise announcement that an important revelation is to be made today before 100,000 Havana citizens, whom he called on to attend the José Martí Anti-imperialist Tribunal in the capital.

"It’s going to be a little surprise," the Cuban president said, adding that he would offer information "regarding the history of our conduct and our acts against terrorism."