As the US government releases a few of the innocent people it has held in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay internment camp for years, four convicted Cuban terrorists were recently pardoned by Panama's outgoing President Mireyas Moscoso. Upon being released from prison on August 26, three of the terrorists were flown on a private jet to Miami where they were met by their families. The four men, along with two others, were convicted on charges relating to a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro by blowing up a crowded auditorium in 2000.
Despite these men's longstanding ties to the CIA, stretching back to the 1970s anti-leftist terror war in South America, "Operation Condor," the US State Department denied having lobbied for their release, and said that it would leave all comments on these particular terrorists for the Panamanian government. As the local US embassy spokesman, William Ostick, said, the US never officially "requested the Panamanians to pardon these individuals."
Nonetheless, China's Xinhua news agency reported that President Moscoso left a telephone message for a former US ambassador to Panama saying "Ambassador, good morning, this is the president to inform you that the four Cubans were pardoned last night and have already left the country. Three are headed for Miami and the other to an unknown destination. Good bye, and all the best." According to the report, Moscoso has acknowledged the recorded voice was hers. [more]
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