While foreign torture suspects have been held accountable in civil proceedings in American courts, experts said Thursday's verdict against Eriberto Mederos marks the first time an accused torturer has been convicted on criminal charges in the United States.
''We have now set a legal precedent,'' said Richard Krieger of Boynton Beach, who hunts foreign torturers who have relocated to the United States. ``This case shows the federal government that they can prosecute modern day war criminals for immigration fraud if they lie on their immigration papers.''***
Call me naive but I think Castro is largely toothless now. Sure, it will be delightful to see him pass on from the scene but he really isn't much of a player in today's world."
My answer to the previous commentary send to me by e.mail
My friend, if you had read the contributions to this article you would realize that the pathological hatred of Castro towards the U.S. is much deeper that Bin Laden’s. In fact Bin Laden was an ally of the U.S. during the Russian invasion to Afghanistan. Castro’s hatred evolved since he was a child. His father, a Spaniard, fought against the Cubans during the War of Independence and hated the U.S., Cuba was the “pearl of the Spanish Crown” and most Spaniards never forgave the intervention of U.S. in the war on the side of the Cuban patriots. It most be noted that the Cubans played an important role in the War of Independence of the U.S. even when they were under the Spanish Crown.
If you had read the articles you would have seen that Castro’s support of Islamic terrorism started over 10 years before of the involvement of the Soviets. The military pact with Arafat was never rescinded and the last expression of Castro’s total support for terrorism was in his unqualified support of Iraq in case of a war with U.S. Do not underestimate Castro’s potential for mischief. He tried once to nuke our cities and, although he does not have that capability now, nevertheless he has the capability and the will to use against us biological, chemical weapons of mass destruction as well as the disruption of our electronic communications using Cuba’s cyber-warfare capabilities. Cuba also has the most powerful and battle proved army in this hemisphere except for the U.S. even though Castro is not able to send around the world 70,000 troops anymore, he is a most valuable asset for the international terrorism network providing them haven, intelligence, training and weapons.
Everyone must be aware that Russian President Putin was the Chief of the KGB and as such, he knows how dangerous and intractable Castro is. Putin’s disengagement from the most important spy base for the Russian intelligence services right after 9/11 without even consulting the Cuban regime, denotes without any doubt the direct relationship between Castro, Al Qaeda, the Russian Base and the success of the attacks.
This tiger, although old, still has big and powerful teeth and claws. Do not underestimate Fidel Castro. But, in the final analysis, we should ask ourselves if the American tourists and our taxpayers’ money should be used to keep in power a terrorist tyrant who has pledged repeatedly to destroy U.S.