Fax from Guatemala at issue in ex-CIA agent's case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Fax from Guatemala at issue in ex-CIA agent's case
Posted: Mar 09, 2011 4:07 AM CST
Updated: Mar 09, 2011 4:07 AM CST
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A businessman from Guatemala is set to testify in the perjury trial of an elderly ex-CIA agent, discussing a fax about 1997 bombings in Havana.

Tony Alvarez was born in Cuba and once linked romantically to a relative of ex-Cuban President Fidel Castro.

But he moved to Guatemala City where he met Luis Posada Carriles (loo-EES' poh-SAH'-duh cah-REE'-lehs).

The 83-year-old Posada faces charges of perjury, obstruction and immigration fraud. He is a longtime anti-communist militant and worked for the CIA until 1976.

Read more: http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=14215095

[RedCloud]

1. So from Guatemala a Gautepeor.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Fla. TV anchor testifies in Cuban militant's trial

Posted on Tuesday, 03.08.11
Fla. TV anchor testifies in Cuban militant's trial
By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
Associated Press

accused of lying to U.S. immigration officials about his past talked during a TV interview shown to jurors Tuesday about a string of bombings in Cuba, saying he felt no remorse and was willing to assume his "historical responsibility" for carrying out attacks.

But Luis Posada Carriles, in the 1998 interview with Miami-based TV anchor Maria Elvira Salazar, did not assume direct responsibility for masterminding the string of bombings in Havana in the previous summer.

Members of the jury saw a backlit, silhouetted Posada tell Salazar how he felt "no remorse whatsoever" and that the only option left to Cubans was to "to fight the violent regime with violence."

Posada, 83, spent decades crisscrossing Latin America to destabilize leftist regimes. He now faces 11 counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud for lying to immigration officials during his citizenship hearings. Officials say among other things, he lied in failing to acknowledge attacks on Cuban hotels and a top Havana tourist restaurant.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/08/2103255/bomb-victims-friend-testifies.html#storylink=mirelated

[Judi Lynn]

3. Engineer who may link ex-CIA agent to '97 Cuban bombings to testify in Texas perjury trial

Engineer who may link ex-CIA agent to '97 Cuban bombings to testify in Texas perjury trial
By WILL WEISSERT , Associated Press
Last update: March 10, 2011 - 2:50 AM

EL PASO, Texas - A Cuban-American engineer who once dated Fidel Castro's half-sister is retaking the stand in the perjury trial of an ex-CIA agent.

Antonio "Tony" Alvarez is testifying about the alleged role of Luis Posada Carriles, 83, in 1997 Cuban hotel bombings. He dated the former Cuban president's sister, Lidia Castro, for years, before fleeing Cuba in 1961.

Alvarez worked in Guatemala in 1997 and met Posada there. But he can't discuss receiving a fax that prosecutors say links Posada to explosions at Cuban tourist sites that year.

The judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence Posada sent the fax and excluded it from evidence.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/117669308.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. For the first time in trial, Cuban militant Posada is linked to explosives

Posted on Thursday, 03.10.11
For the first time in trial, Cuban militant Posada is linked to explosives
For first time in the Luis Posada Carriles trial, a witness has linked the Cuban militant to explosives used in Cuba bombings.

By Alfonso Chardy
[e-mail]

EL PASO, Texas -- A Cuban American businessman testified Thursday in the Luis Posada Carriles perjury trial that in 1997 he overheard conversations in his Guatemala City office involving the Cuban exile militant and two other men about ways to smuggle explosive materials into Cuba.

Antonio “Tony’’ Alvarez, the witness, said the conversations took place in August 1997 — around the time that bombs were going off at Cuban tourist sites.

It was the first time since the trial began Jan. 10 that a witness has directly linked Posada to explosives during the time that bombs were exploding in Cuban hotels, bars and at the world-famous Bodeguita del Medio restaurant in old Havana.

Alvarez’s testimony also marked a milestone in the nine-week-old trial. Prosecutors indicated to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, who is presiding over the trial, that they plan to rest their case after the testimony of a former reporter for The New York Times, Ann Louise Bardach. She is expected to begin testifying Wednesday.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/10/2108627/for-the-first-time-in-trial-cuban.html