Cuban American Associates of Convicted Terrorist Luis Posada-Carriles Arrested in Florida

Interview with Wayne Smith, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, conducted by Denise Manzari

On the night of Nov. 18, on a tip from a government informant, Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat were arrested in Miami on weapons charges. Alvarez, a wealthy real estate owner was found by federal agents to have in his Broward county apartment complex, a secret cache of weapons including hand grenades, unregistered silencers, automatic weapons with obliterated registration numbers and explosives. ATF agents found more than a thousand rounds of ammunition, more explosives and automatic weapons in a vault in the building management office.

Both Alvarez and Mitat are long-time allies of Luis Posada-Carriles, the Cuban exile militant accused by the Cuban and Venezuelan governments to have masterminded, along with Orlando Bosch, the bombing of a Cubana airlines flight from Barbados in 1976. That act of terrorism killed all 73 people on board, including members of the Cuban youth fencing team. Posada is also accused of planning a series of hotel bombings in Havana between 1997-98. Both Santiago Alvarez 64, and Osvaldo Mitat, 63, were among the five passengers aboard the fishing boat Santrina, which Fidel Castro has maintained smuggled Posada into the United States through Mexico in March. Posada is currently incarcerated on immigration charges.

On Nov. 28 at the federal courthouse, Judge Andrea Simonton refused to release the pair saying that possession of such weapons is a "crime of violence." However, she did not feel they were a flight risk due to their close Miami ties. Outside the courtroom, Cuban American National Foundation president Francisco "Pepe" Hernandez accused the Bush administration of betrayal, saying the White House is forgetting the promises they made to the exile community and are instead catering to Castro's demands.

In late October, U.S. Customs intercepted a FedEx package sent to Alvarez' Hialeah office from Fernando Valdez in Guatemala. It contained a book titled, "Cuba Mia" and hidden inside was a fake Guatemalan passport.

Wayne Smith is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C. Between The Lines' Denise Manzari spoke with Smith about the implications of these recent arrests.

For more information, call the Center for International Policy at (202) 232-3317 or visit their website at www.ciponline.org

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