BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD—Special for Granma International—
THE pardon of international terrorists Luis Posada Carriles, Pedro Crispín Remon Hernández, Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo and Guillermo Novo Sampol was negotiated in Miami by Ruby Moscoso, sister of the then Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, for the sum of $4 million, according to documents published on the internet.
It is also revealed that Posada Carriles used false documents provided by the US embassy in Panama to leave that country.
The documents, titled "All the corruption and bribes in Panama’s pardon of the four anti-Castroites" and "The implication of the ex-Panamanian police chief, the Miami anti-Castroites and the US government in the release of the four anti-Castroites pardoned in Panama," signed by Raúl Gómez, were published on the website Rebelión a few days before Posada’s "reappearance" in Florida. Their contents corroborate information that has been circulating in Panama and Miami ever since their controversial release on August 26.
The texts reveal that the money was delivered to the Moscoso sisters in the form of a commercial transaction payment through a bank in Liechtenstein, Europe’s financial paradise. The operation was directed by Pedro Gómez, a Cuban-American linked to the Mellon United National Bank in Miami, who also took care of payments to the Panamanian defense lawyers, headed by narco-lawyer Rogelio Cruz, famous for the degree of his financial demands.
Gómez was part of the so-called Committee for the Freedom of the Imprisoned Brothers in Panama, which was collecting money to pay for legal expenses. The "treasurer" is a member of the movement led by Ramón Saúl Sánchez, whose exploits in the terrorist organization Omega 7 – together with Pedro Remón – are well known.
The document’s author explains that during his visit to Panama in March of 2004, on the occasion of the trial of Posada and his cronies, Gómez boasted in a luxurious restaurant in that country’s capital that he was certain that the four terrorists would be released. "In any case, the boys will be free before the year is over," he affirmed.
TAKEN OUT OF THEIR CELLS AT 4:30 A.M.
Beginning at 12 midnight on August 26, an impressive security operation was mounted around the Panamanian prison El Renacer, with units from the Institutional Protective Service (SPI) and elite police agents. The prison’s director, Mr. Carlos Arjona, was present.
At 4:30 a.m. (local time) on August 26, Posada and his three accomplices were taken out of El Renacer, some 40 kilometers from the capital. They were driven, in hoods, to Tocumen International Airport, where two small planes were waiting – after having arrived the morning of the previous day – to take them to San Pedro Sula, in Honduras.
The special operation to remove the pardoned criminals was personally overseen by Carlos Barés, former chief of the National Police.
The airplanes were chartered and paid for by known Miami capos, including Leopoldo Fernández Pujals; Jorge Mas Santos, of the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF); the terrorist Santiago Álvarez, and members of the so-called Cuban Liberty Council (a split-off of the CANF), which does not exclude the monetary intervention of the US government and the advisement of its special services.
FALSE DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED BY THE US EMBASSY
A few days prior to the pardon, narco-lawyer Rogelio Cruz informed Barés that Posada possessed false documents provided by the U.S., and that "using them, he could leave Panama with no problem whatsoever, as long the terrorists had his support." The decision to free Posada and his accomplices was agreed "in early August" during a meeting of ministers "by unanimous vote," leaving the president the "option of setting a more convenient date."
Mireya Moscoso, whose mandate ended on August 31, signed decree No. 317, issued on August 25, to grant a presidential pardon.
The morning of August 25, 2004, a meeting convened by Moscoso was held at Garzas Palace, the seat of the presidency, where decisions were made on details of the operation for the clandestine exit. Upon her arrival, both Cruz and Barés were welcomed by Ruby Moscoso, first lady of the Republic and the sister of the president.
POWELL AND REICH INTERVENE
The text affirms that "according to sources with direct access to the presidency," the then US Secretary of State Colin Powell brought up the subject of Posada Carriles with Moscoso during a visit to Panama in December of 2003, and informed her that it was in the interest of the US government for the terrorists to "benefit from the legal process."
Powell "went to tell her in person that Bush was interested in the Cuban prisoners being judged in absentia." That information was reflected at the time by the Panamanian daily El Siglo.
Previously, during a meeting of the Panamanian National Security Council (CSN) at the end of 2003, US Ambassador Linda Watt intervened to ask for a solution to the Posada case that would not benefit Cuba.
On January 20, 2004, Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, met at the US embassy in Panama with the CSN coordinator, who assured him "that President Mireya Moscoso would pardon the terrorists before September."
Moscoso met with Reich on January 21. One of Posada’s lawyers later affirmed that Foreign Minister Harmodio Arias had confided to him that Reich had asked for the release of the extremists.
On another occasion, Mayín Correa, a former mayor and a radio personality on KW Continente, confirmed that information by specifying that Mireya Moscoso promised at the time to put an end to the trial once the sentence was handed down.
During that same period, information was circulating in Miami to the effect that Otto Reich had "arranged everything."
Nevertheless, in August of 2004, Moscoso, denying the existence of a plan to pardon them, affirmed: "I haven’t thought about it, but now I am going to think about it."
The document also indicates that the former Panamanian president made a "private trip to Miami" at the end of June of 2004, when she came under heavy pressure" from Bush administration officials and extremist Cuban-American groups in that city. In Panama, her decision to live in Miami – where she had previously lived for 10 years – is well known.
According to the document, in addition to the millions negotiated by her sister, Moscoso received a 2005 Lincoln Town Crown car, valued at $125,000.
Since September, Moscoso has been the object of various charges of embezzling $23.4 million in presidential discretional funds and $45 million donated by the Taiwanese government during her mandate (1999-2004).
The Panamanian press has published some details of the millions spent by the former president, including purchases of jewelry, fancy dresses, trips and gifts totaling $23 million.
A VISITOR CALLED "JOHN"
In August of 2002, an American called John visited the prisoners. Carlos Barés, ex-chief of the Panamanian police, put a car – with a police corporal as its driver – at the disposal of that individual. This John person arrived at and left the jail without having to ask permission, just as he did at police headquarters and at the US embassy. At the request of Leopoldo Fernández Pujals, the former Spanish pizza "king", Barés provided police headquarters as a venue for supposed OAS officials to meet with the remanded terrorists Carlos Barés on February 12, 2004.