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Both Cuba and Venezuela, where Posada had citizenship when the the Cubana Airlines flight blew up in 1976, have demanded Posada's extradition. So far, federal judges have declined to send him to either country, where Posada insists he would be tortured. (Cuban President Raúl Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez have insisted he wouldn't.) But some analysts believe that if the U.S. were to eventually lock Posada away - a grand jury in New Jersey is investigating his involvement in the bombings - it might turn down the volume of the calls for extradition in Havana...
Posada's is a quintessential Cold War story. As a CIA operative in the 1960s, he worked unsuccessfully to overthrow the communist regime of then Cuban leader Fidel Castro (who officially ceded power to his younger brother Raúl last year because of failing health). At the time of the 1976 airliner bombing, he worked for Venezuela's secret police. Despite abundant evidence against him, a Venezuelan military tribunal acquitted him of the Cubana attack. That verdict was overturned, however, and in 1985, while Posada was being tried in a civilian criminal court, he escaped disguised as a priest...
...part, appears closer than ever to passing legislation to lift the Cuban travel ban for all U.S. citizens - prominent lawmakers like Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar now call the embargo a failed policy - and Obama would probably sign such a measure. At the same time, Fidel and Raúl Castro have both in recent days expressed an unusual willingness to talk with the U.S. about improving Washington-Havana relations. The two aging communists even met with a delegation of U.S. Congressmen this week and asked what they could do toward that end. One possible answer: if the U.S. does...
Although he is considered a Raulista, Rodriguez remains a relatively unknown entity in the Castro hierarchy. As experts like Mora point out, it's too soon to tell if Raúl chose Rodriguez with a proactive U.S.-Cuba mission in mind or simply to have a professional but nondescript bureaucrat warm the Foreign Minster's seat. Raúl already consults a small core of foreign policy veterans on U.S. policy, including Jorge Bolaños, Cuba's de facto ambassador in Washington, and Fernando Remírez de Estenoz, one of Cuba's most respected diplomats...
Obama and Raúl will continue to approach each other hopefully but cautiously. The U.S. President, who is set to attend next month's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad - at which Cuba is the only disinvited nation - says he favors keeping the embargo largely in place until Cuba demonstrates political reform. But he also knows that opening up to the island is necessary to mending Washington's broken relations with Latin America in general. By the same token, Raúl, who has insisted on U.S. concessions on items like the embargo before he delivers his own, like...