PANAMA: EXTRADITION REQUEST FOR POSADA EXPECTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000556 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/07/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PM PTER KCRM VE CU SUBJECT: PANAMA: EXTRADITION REQUEST FOR POSADA EXPECTED REF: PANAMA 542 Classified By: Classified by POLCOUNS Brian R. Naranjo for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Panama is under internal as well as external pressure - from the Cuban government - to request extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, whose 2004 pardon, along with those of 181 others, was recently overturned by the Supreme Court. A lawsuit was filed in Panama's Fifth Circuit requesting the extradition of Posada and three other Cubans. The U.S. "must extradite" Luis Posada Carriles, Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon declared June 6 upon arriving in Panama City for the "Latin American-Caribbean Parliamentary Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba" hosted by his counterpart Panamanian National Assembly President Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, who is under U.S. federal indictment in connection with the 1992 murder of a U.S. serviceman. GOP officials are proceeding to implement the decision of the Supreme Court, that returns the pardoned cases to their "original state." -------------- --- Panamanian Lawyers File Suit to Push Extradition -------------- --- ¶2. (U) On July 4, a group of Panamanian lawyers filed suit in the Fifth Panama City Circuit Court in Panama City to request the extradition of Posada and three other anti-Castro Cubans. The group also announced plans to file lawsuits against former GOP officials who had roles in the pardons and subsequent departure of the Cubans, charging them with abuse of authority. (COMMENT: Ex-President Mireya Moscoso has immunity from prosecution as a member of the Central American parliament. END COMMENT) Julio Berros, spokesman for the group of lawyers, said that they would immediately ask the Interpol office in Panama to arrest Posada and the others as they were "fugitives from Panamanian justice." The four lawyers who requested extradition were involved in the prosecution 2004 trial of Posada and the others. -------------- Alarcon Arrives for PMG-sponsored summit -------------- ¶3. (U) Alarcon further said that "George Bush must grab him without anyone asking him and put him in a bag and send him to Panama." Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, in Panama to attend the "Latin American-Caribbean Parliamentary Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba," also called for Posada's extradition. The meeting, sponsored by the Panamanian-Cuban Interparlimentary Friendship Group and organized by Panamanian National Assembly President - and indicted U.S. fugitive - Pedro Miguel Gonzalez (PMG),would be devoted to debating "the struggle for the liberation of five Cuban antiterrorists arrested and convicted in the United States." (COMMENT: This refers to five Cubans arrested in Florida in 1998 on charges of espionage. END COMMENT) -------------- GOP Gears Begin to Grind Through Cases -------------- ¶4. (U) First VP and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro commented to the media on July 1 that "if the persons in charge of meting out justice submit a request to have Posada Carriles returned to the country we will take the necessary steps to have him come to face the charges lodged against him." Attorney General Ana Matilde Gomez has asked Superior Prosecutors, District Prosecutors and other public ministry authorities to inventory the 182 pardons, including Posada Carriles', that were thrown out and determine the status of each pardoned individual. The Court's decision required that each case be returned to its "original state" prior to pardon, which for Posada would be a return to jail in Panama. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (C) It is increasingly likely that the GOP will request extradition of Posada and the three other Cubans once the required legal processes have played themselves out. Embassy contacts, except for those directly affected by the reversal of the pardons, seem to be of one mind that the overturn of the 182 pardons was a necessary check on Executive power, and that the GOP should follow its laws and legal processes, which eventually, in the case of Posada and the other Cubans, will result in a extradition request to the U.S. from the GOP. MESA