Pubdate: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 Source: Granma International (CU) Section: Special for Granma International Copyright: 2002 GRANMA INTERNATIONAL Contact: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2696 BEHIND POSADA: DRUG TRAFFICKING Panamanian sources confirm links between Jose Valladares Acosta, accomplice of terrorist gang leader Luis Posada Carriles and Orestes Cosio, recently deported from the United States for drug trafficking and involvement in three murders The extremely dangerous terrorist has always maintained links with drug trafficking circles in Miami - the U.S. drugs capital ON October 7, Jose Valladares Acosta, a fugitive from U.S. justice, died from natural causes in Panama. He was waiting to be tried as an accomplice of terrorist gang boss Luis Posada Carriles on a charge of conspiracy to assassinate Fidel Castro. He was a crony of Cuban-American Orestes Cosio, deported to the United States on May 22 for drug trafficking and taking part in three murders. Sources in Panama revealed to Granma International that Cosio, who lived in Chiriqui province under the alias Luis "Mack" Navarro, associated with Jose "Pepe" Valladares and Pedro Caridad Gordillo Serrano, a retired Miami police officer also linked to drug trafficking, in a mechanics workshop known as the "Big Truck". Chiriqui is a town bordering on Costa Rica, some 450 kilometers west of the Panamanian capital. After Posada Carriles and his accomplices were arrested on November 17, 2000 at the Coral Suite Hotel in Panama City, when they had completed their preparations to assassinate Fidel Castro, the Panamanian authorities discovered that the detained men had been helped by Valladares Acosta. They later discovered that the four individuals had stashed C-4 and Semtex explosives at Valladares' farm in Boquete, Chiriqui province, where they had stayed three days before being arrested in the capital. Born on February 7, 1934 in Pinar del Rio (Cuba), Valladares died from coronary complications on October 7 in Boquete, where he had been living for many years. In Panama he was known successively as "Pepe el Largo", "Pepe el Flaco", "Pepe el Cubano" and "El Cojo". He had a U.S. passport: No. 04499538. Last May 22, Panama's Immigration Office informed that Orestes Cosio had been deported to the United States after being arrested in Chiriqui in possession of a forged U.S. passport and two weapons. One of the guns had been stolen in Panama. He had lived in Chiriqui since 1998 and was involved in various businesses. The Cuban American had various stamps in his false passport for trips to Central America. Posada, aged 74; Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, 67; Guillermo Novo Sampoll, 62; and Pedro Remon, 58, are all being held in El Renacer prison, Panama City awaiting the preliminary hearing of their trial, scheduled to begin on December 5. The four terrorists were arrested shortly after Cuba informed the Panamanian authorities of a conspiracy to assassinate President Fidel Castro in the midst of a student gathering. The four are represented by lawyer Rogelio Cruz, former attorney of the Republic, sacked for his links with Colombian cartels. Cruz has traveled to Miami on various occasions to meet members of the Miami clique who are paying Posada's defense costs. Valladares, Accomplice Of Orlando Bosch According to data disclosed by a source close to Valladares, the businessman's links with the Miami terrorist camarilla date back close to 30 years to when he helped Orlando Bosch, a terrorist of Cuban-American origin, with preparations for blowing up a Cubana Airlines plane over Barbados in 1976. The attack caused the death of 73 people. Luis Posada Carriles was later identified as Bosch's partner in the crime and sentenced in Venezuela. When Bosch was freed, thanks to the intervention of Cuban-American Otto Reich, then the U.S. ambassador to Caracas, and that of the White House, he went to stay in one of Valladares' houses in Miami. Other sources - linked to the April 1999 trial in Panama that took place after Cuba exposed Luis Posada Carriles' presence in El Salvador, which obliged him to flee the country and hide in Honduras and Costa Rica - affirm that the terrorist boss directed one of his contacts in the United States to contact "Pepe" Valladares and tell him about his situation. When the frustrated attempt on the Cuban President's life was revealed, Valladares abandoned his home to take refuge in an unknown location. 100 Pounds Of C-4 Found In Colon At the end of September 2001, the Panamanian DA's Office obtained information stating that certain individuals in the city of Colon were trying to sell some 100 pounds of C-4 explosive. The DA's Office associated the information with the missing explosives from the Posada conspiracy and ordered an immediate investigation. Coincidentally, on October 19, DA Argentina Barrera, at the time responsible for Posada's dossier, plus other members of the DA Office were called to the office of FBI investigator Ramon Quijana at the U.S. embassy. He gave them the same information and proposed a joint "controlled purchase" operation. The FBI man added that he likewise believed that the explosives were part of the batch that Posada and his group had thought to use. At the end of the same month, Miles Burden - head of the FBI at the U.S. embassy in Panama - sent a report to DA Barrera indicating he had information about weapons and possibly explosives hidden at Valladares' farm in Chiriqui. The DA's Office asked the FBI for technical aid because the farm was so large, and the FBI agreed. However, a few days later Miles' posting came to an end, which seems to have frustrated buying up the cache. After his arrest, Valladares Acosta told the Panamanian DA that Posada Carriles and his group had been at his house. The suspect claimed that he had recommended the terrorist gang leader to use a rifle with a telescopic lens to murder the Cuban president instead of explosives, which could kill many innocent people. The four terrorists proposed dynamiting the University of Panama's Aula Magna where Fidel Castro was to speak after the Ibero-American Summit. After being found guilty of complicity, Valladares was placed under house arrest to await trial. "The Most Dangerous Terrorist" Luis Posada Carriles and Miami's Orlando Bosch share the FBI's descriptive title "most dangerous terrorist in the hemisphere". Without exception, their three accomplices have a comprehensive past in terrorism. Among other crimes, Jimenez murdered Cuban technician Artagnan Diaz in Merida, Mexico. Remon killed Felix Garcia Rodriguez, a Cuban diplomat at the United Nations in New York. Novo assassinated Chilean leader Orlando Letelier in Washington. On December 5, Judge Enrique Paniza will determine whether or not there is a case against the four individuals. He must analyze the dossier complied by DA Dimas Guevara who recommended charging Posada and his group with four lesser crimes but not intent to murder, on the grounds of the absence of an explosive valve in the evidence. Nevertheless, popular organizations are planning to ask the judge to try the accused on other charges, including the attempted assassination of the Cuban head of state. According to lawyer Julio Berrios, Judge Paniza will be asked to add the charge of attempted collective homicide, beating in mind the catastrophe that an explosion could have caused in the University amphitheater. The four terrorists' lawyer Rogelio Cruz has tried in vain to get Judge Paniza removed from the trial, by alleging that he had a "special interest" in implementing the charges. The judge denied the claim and the request was rejected by a higher court. Luis Posada Carriles' links with the drug trafficking world began in the 1980's when he was acting as Felix Rodriguez' right-hand man at the Salvadoran base of Llopang, in a shadowy chapter of the misnamed Iran-Contra scandal. To this day he remains unpunished. The boss of the terrorist gang has always maintained his links with drug trafficking circles in Miami, the U.S. drugs capital. Cosio's drug trafficking links with his accomplice Jose Valladares once again confirm the constant trading in narcotics that lies behind the activities of this extremely dangerous terrorist. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth