Luis Posada Carriles is a convicted mass-murderer, but instead of being brought to justice for terrorist offences, he has thrived, even working for the CIA as a prized asset. The Teflon Terrorist has led a charmed life. On October 6th 1976 he planned and executed the outrage that cost 73 people their lives by blowing up a plane over Trinidad and Tobago. He was tried and convicted of that offence in Venezuela, but escaped and subsequently entered the USA illegally.

The 1971 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation obliges the US to prosecute Posada for the alleged acts of terrorism if it does not extradite him. But today they refuse to do either. In addition to the airline outrage, Posada Carriles has committed other outrages with the blessing of the CIA.

In 2000, Posada was discovered in Panama with 200 pounds of explosives when a plot to assassinate visiting President Castro was uncovered. Then Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardoned him in 2004 and the following year, Posada requested political asylum from the United States where he continues to reside. Both Venezuela and Cuba have requested that Luis Posada be extradited to stand trial for the terrorist crimes he has committed.

Posada Carriles is on trial in the US, but not for his past terrorist activities. Instead, he is charged with lying to a customs official upon entry into the US in 2005. He was tried for such offences previously. U.S. district judge Kathleen Cardone dismissed seven counts of immigration fraud and ordered Posada's electronic bracelet removed citing fraud, deceit and trickery during the initial interview. However, this was eventually overturned. Today, he is on trial in Texas for the same offences.

While allegedly leading the War on Terror, prosecuting whistle-blowers, water-boarding suspects and reneging on promises to stop the perversion of due process at Guantánamo Bay, the US shield a known and convicted terrorist. Shamefully, they will prosecute a minor offence, while refusing to honour the extradition requests from Venezuela and Cuba or prosecute Posada Carriles for the terrorist acts that he has committed.

The hypocrisy of the War on Terror was exposed five years ago by the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, when he spoke at the UN in 2006. He labelled Posada 'the biggest terrorist of this continent,' and detailed the shameful practice that shielded Posada Carriles from justice. "Thanks to the CIA and government officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this country, protected by the government," Chávez said.1

Former CIA-agent, Luis Posada Carriles is responsible for the deaths of as many as 100 innocent people in terrorist acts he fomented and carried out over the past 40 years. Dozens of families of these victims have been waiting since the early 1970s for justice to be served, yet the US government refuses to hear their cries. The hypocrisy of the US government to denounce some terrorists while aiding and abetting others continues to haunt American foreign policy and merely demonstrates the double standards that currently exist. Meanwhile, the mass-murderering Teflon Terrorist faces trial for lying to immigration officials rather than his terrorist crimes. So much for the War on Terror.