Double Standard for Terrorists?

[dwinterfield]

Here's an interesting stroy from today's Boston Globe.

The short version is that Luis Posada Carriles is a Venezuelan citizen in US custody applying for asylum. He has a 40 yr history of violent anti-Castro activity at least part of which was on the CIA payroll. He is accused of playing a role in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner in Barbados that killed 73 people.

He goes before a Texas immigration judge charged with illegal entry of the US. Venezuela wants him to stand trial.

What do you think the Bush Administration will do?

Whatdo you think the Bush Administration should do?

It seems to be a complicated case. I think he should be returned to Venezuela. I think the Bush Administration will find a way to make sure it never happens.


http://www.boston.com/news/world/latina ... ma_for_us/

[The Weekenders]

Well, if he ends up being hypocritical, it will remind me of the hundreds if not thousands of Africans fleeing civil war were granted entry to the US under CLinton, while one little Cuban boy was sent home.

[jGilder]

The Bush Administration is involved in plots to bring down Chauvez. They tried a sabotage campaign and coup d'état like they did in Chile, but have failed to bring about the same results. Anything the US does in regard to Venezuela is highly suspicious at this point.

[I.D.10-t]

What do you think the Bush Administration will do?

Probably send him off to Gitmo.

[dwinterfield]

Forgot to pull in Week's quote. I redid for clarities sake.

[dwinterfield]

Well, if he ends up being hypocritical, it will remind me of the hundreds if not thousands of Africans fleeing civil war were granted entry to the US under CLinton, while one little Cuban boy was sent home.

Doesn't seem like a good analogy to me. My recollection is that Elian Gonzalez had a legal and competent parent who wanted him back. Not the case for the African refugees.

By the way, I am fascinated by the pc stories where you teach. I don't have kids and have not run into that sort of thing first hand. I'm definitely way to your left politically and find it really embarrassing and annoying when well meaning liberals trade common sense for ideology. Of course they learned it from the conservatives who confuse reality with ideology.

Back to your comment. It wouldn't be proper for you to lose parental rights because you work in a system manged by liberals. Elian should not have been kept here because his father is Cuban and supports his government.

[The Weekenders]

Yeah, just remember his mother died getting him to the U.S. That's what made it very complicated, as I recall. But perhaps there are better direct refugees cases to be made. Presidencies always have their share of hypocrisies.

Venezuela – what a mess. Great folks, great music, tho. Like neighboring Brazil, intellectuals, musicians are periodically thrown in jail over their history. They all oughta just be issued mug shots and bar codes at birth and they should make the prisons into conservatories. Hey, I'm onto something here.

here's one for ya, winterfeld. We also had a school in the South Bay that tried to have a mandatory cross-dressing day but I can't find an Internet link. Byron is about 15 miles east from where I sit typing.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=25997

[rh]

Yeah, just remember his mother died getting him to the U.S. That's what made it very complicated, as I recall.

i seem to recall that complications arose due to the reluctance of both parties to risk p*ss*ng off the exile community and potentially losing any future political race in Florida as a result.

my wife is Cuban and my son is Cuban-American. if she took him back to Cuba and all her relatives convinced her to stay or (G-d forbid) she died and her relatives tried to keep him there, i'd bet he'd be back here within a week.

speaking of silencing artists, i remember a few years back a small art gallery in Miami was showing an exhibit by Cuban artists still living on the island. the exhibit was closed within days due to all the bomb threats the gallery received.

i've probably said too much already... as it is, i'm probably not going to get any croquetas next time i visit la suegra in Hialeah

[jsluder]

Yeah, just remember his mother died getting him to the U.S. That's what made it very complicated, as I recall.

i seem to recall that it was the reluctance of both parties to risk p*ss*ng off the exile community and potentially losing any future political race in Florida as a result.

my wife is Cuban and my son is Cuban-American. if she took him back to Cuba and all her relatives convinced her to stay or (G-d forbid) she died and her relatives tried to keep him there, i'd bet he'd be back here within a week.

speaking of silencing artists, i remember a few years back a small art gallery in Miami was showing an exhibit by Cuban artists still living on the island. the exhibit was closed within days due to all the bomb threats the gallery received.

i've probably said too much already... as it is, i'm probably not going to get any croquetas next time i visit la suegra in Hialeah

While hiking a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail yesterday, I was talking to a hiker from Sweden who lived in Miami for 4 years. (He's lived and worked all over the world.) He said that, prior to living in Miami, he believed that he was not prejudiced toward anyone, anywhere. After Miami, he reluctantly admits that he's prejudiced against the Miami Cubans. He didn't go into details, and then changed the subject; it seemed to embarrass him to make the admission.

[The Weekenders]

I think both Southern Floridians and Southern Californians are living a different daily reality than most other Americans because of large immigrant populations.

[s1m0n]

...while one little Cuban boy was sent home.

That was a custody issue, not an immigration or refugee issue. The judge made the right call, and returned the boy to live with his father, exactly as the law required.

Is it your argument that political considerations should trump family law in custody disputes?

Should republican governments come in and seize the children of any of the government's other enemies, lest they be raised by communists, or by homosexuals, or Moslems? And should democrat governments step in and seize the children of the christian right, or members of the KKK, or weird millenial cults?

[IRTradRU?]

The judge made the right call, and returned the boy to live with his father, exactly as the law required.

[s1m0n]

Yup, Irtrad--when you kidnap a child, law enforcement has to come and do a seizure.

It doesn't only happen to Cuban children, either.

And the boy's mother's uncle should have gone to jail for subjecting a child to such a stunt.

[IRTradRU?]

Yup, Irtrad--when you kidnap a child, law enforcement has to come and do a seizure.

It doesn't only happen to Cuban children, either.

And the boy's mother's uncle should have gone to jail for subjecting a child to such a stunt.

His Mother (may God rest her soul) died trying to bring her child to freedom.

What the hell would you know about it?

Of course, Elian could have had it worse - he could have been at Waco Texas and been incinerated by the Clinton "justice" Department rather than being returned at gunpoint to the Workers' Paradise.

[Bloomfield]

Yup, Irtrad--when you kidnap a child, law enforcement has to come and do a seizure.

It doesn't only happen to Cuban children, either.

And the boy's mother's uncle should have gone to jail for subjecting a child to such a stunt.

His Mother (may God rest her soul) died trying to bring her child to freedom.

What the hell would you know about it?

Of course, Elian could have had it worse - he could have been at Waco Texas and been incinerated by the Clinton "justice" Department rather than being returned at gunpoint to the Workers' Paradise.

I always feel like I need to wash my hands after reading your posts. I should have learned by now, I know.