My family just finished burying my grandfather, a Cuban exile who came to the United States with my grandmother, mother and uncle in the 1960's. The emotions of the day were fragile. We went to have lunch at a popular Cuban restaurant called Versailles, located in downtown Miami. Versailles is home-base for all anti-Castro Cubans, a number that is dwindling but still strong.
While eating our lunch my Uncle Jorge nudged me with his elbow.
"You see that guy coming in?" He said. I looked up to see an old man walking slow. The old man was accompanied by a not as old man and a young person probably in their 20's. "Do you know who he is?" My uncle Jorge asked me. "No," I said. He looked at the old man, then back at me. "That man is Luis Posada Carriles. Fidel [Castro] hates him!"
Puzzled by this old man. Wondering how could Castro not like this slow walking old man.
"Why doesn't he like him?" I asked. By now Carriles had sat down and was looking at the menu.
My uncle went on to explain why. He said in the 1970's Carriles blew up one of Castro's planes in Venezuela that may have had the Cuban baseball team on board. While trying to escape, Carriles was caught in Panama. There he faced a trial for blowing up Castro's plane and was found NOT GUILTY. Upon hearing the verdict, Castro sent a team to assassinate Carriles, who was now in Bolivia. They almost succeeded. Carriles was shot, which is the reason for his current speech problems, but escaped. Carriles made his way to the United States where he is now living in Miami.
Recently the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, tried to extradite Carriles back to Venezuela for the crime he committed 40 years ago. The U.S. government denied the request because Carriles was already on trial for the crime and was found not guilty. It's illegal to keep trying individuals until the verdict fulfills the agenda of one person. One trial, one verdict, that's all you get. They couldn't find Carriles guilty, so he gets to stay in the U.S. where he is now a citizen.
I took a moment and stared at this old man. My grandmother jumped in the conversation. "I wish Castro was on that plane when it exploded," she said.
The morning started with burying my grandfather, a Cuban exile, with a Cuban flag draped over his coffin, never to return to the island he longed to be free. It ends with the sharing of lunch with a man who would commit acts of terror in the name of Patriotism to bring that freedom.
We live in an age where such acts are considered terrorism only if they go against the American Agenda. This act, however, was one of desperation, redemption, and pure craziness. Not many people can pull off what he did, survive and assassination attempt, and live in the country which so many despise.
I do not condone his alleged actions. But this I will say, Luis Posado Carriles... vivi a Cuba Libre!
For more information of Carriles... http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/p/luis_posada_carriles/index.html
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