Blake Fleetwood writes: For more than 50 years the U.S. has harbored and trained Cuban exile terrorists who have blown up civilian planes and mounted raids killing innocent civilians and tourists in Havana and other South American countries.

The most famous example of this is Luis Posada Carriles, who Venezuela and Cuba have been seeking for more than three decades for blowing up a Cuban airliner in 1976, killing 73 innocent civilians. It was then the deadliest terrorist airline attack in the Western Hemisphere — before 9/11.

The reason Venezuela has been offering Snowden asylum is directly linked to the asylum the U.S. has provided to exiled Cuban terrorists. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela contrasted Snowden’s action with those of Luis Posada Carriles, who is living freely and openly in Miami despite the fact that he is wanted for blowing up Cubana de Aviación Flight 55.

“Who is the terrorist? A government like ours that seeks to serve the young Snowden fight humanitarian asylum against persecution of the American Empire, or the U.S. government that protects political asylum to Luis Posada Carriles, murderer and confessed and convicted terrorist who is requested by Venezuela”, Nicolas Maduro said.

I interviewed Posada years ago after I snuck into a Venezuelan prison, against all the rules, and he was quite proud of his terrorist activities throughout Latin American.

Posada told me he was trained by the U.S. Army in the art of bomb-making and was on their, as well as the CIA’s, payroll for a number of years. People think the reason that Posada has avoided prosecution is because the U.S. is protecting the secrets he might spill — tying the CIA and the Bush family to illegal terrorist activities. [Continue reading…]