Activists from several U.S. and Mexican organizations will hold a protest on Monday, August 29, starting at 7:00 am, in front of the U.S. Immigration detention center, 8915 Montana Rd., El Paso, Texas, to demand the immediate extradition of the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.

Arguing that an extradition request from Venezuela takes precedence over the immigration trial of Posada that opens on August 29, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has mobilized nationally since the discovery of Posada's presence in the U.S. in early April. In addition to ANSWER, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, South West Organizing Project, the Juárez Committee in Solidarity with Cuba, Stop the War Machine Coalition, National Network on Cuba, Alianza Martiana and other organizations are co-sponsoring the August 29 action.

Brian Becker, director of the ANSWER Coalition, said, "The Bush administration has yet to condemn Posada's terrorism and bloody history, which includes the killing of 73 passengers on a Cuban airliner in 1976. Bush has not uttered one word to denounce this notorious terrorist. Instead his administration, through the Secretary of State, is intensifying its attacks on Cuba through the so-called Commission for Transition to a Free Cuba."

"He cannot continue to deny Venezuela's legitimate and legally binding extradition request. There is unanimous worldwide opinion calling for Posada's extradition."

Prominent in the public action is the demand for the immediate release and freedom for the "Cuban Five," Cuban nationals in U.S. prison whose four life terms and 85 years of imprisonment were nullified along with their convictions on 26 federal charges, August 9. Their mission in Miami in the 1990s was to monitor and prevent terrorist attacks on Cuba by extremist anti-Cuba groups.

The FBI arrested the five Sept. 12, 1998. They were tried in Miami and convicted on June 8, 2001. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this past August 9 that a Miami venue made it impossible for the men to receive a fair trial and remanded for a new trial.

Gloria La Riva, coordinator of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, said, "The Cuban Five were actively stopping terrorist attacks by the extremist Miami-based groups, yet the U.S. government railroaded the anti-terrorists into prison, while letting terrorists operate freely in Miami against Cuba. Gerardo Hernandez, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González and Fernando González must be freed immediately, and allowed to return home to Cuba."

Sharon Persaud and Roseanne Nenninger, the sisters of Raymond Persaud, 19-year-old Guyanese youth who perished in the 1976 plane bombing, will participate in the protest and attend the court hearing on behalf of their family. They say, "We are seeking justice for the death of our brother, Raymond Persaud. He was a 19-year-old student on his way to Cuba to study medicine and a bomb blew up the plane that killed him instantly, along with the 72 other passengers on board.

"As a family we are still devastated by the tragic loss of our brother Raymond Persaud. On that fateful day, Oct 6th, 1976, the Cubana plane was bombed. Justice needs to be served to all who participated in this terrible act. No one was ever held accountable for this heinous act. US declassified documents prove that Mr. Luis Posada Carriles was directly involved with the bombing of the Cubana plane. We as relatives of one of the 73 victims are pursuing an effort to obtain justice."

The demonstration will include the pictures of the 73 victims of the 1976 plane bombing, of Fabio Di Celmo, who was killed by a bomb planted in a Havana hotel in 1997, an act that Posada claimed credit for, and of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffitt, who were killed in a Sept. 21, 1976 car bombing in Washington DC. Recently declassified FBI and CIA documents show Posada as part of that bomb plot. There will be various speakers during the day, while the court hearing takes place.