Foreign Ministers within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have urged the United States to take appropriate action against Luis Posada Carriles, a primary suspect in the 1976 bombing of a Cubana aircraft over international waters off the coast of Barbados .
US Judge Kathleen Cardone granted Carriles bail pending trial in Texas for immigration charges, sparking worldwide criticisms.
A communiqué issued at the conclusion of the tenth meeting of the Council For Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) in Belize , held over two days from May 10, noted that justice was necessary to bring closure to the families of the 73 passengers whose lives were lost in the tragedy.
They recalled the shared commitment of CARICOM and the United States in the fight against terrorism.
The Foreign Affairs Ministers noted that this is an area in which the U.S. has played a leading role on the international stage, and shared undertakings as members of the international community, in keeping with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on the subject, to bring to justice suspected terrorists.
The Ministers therefore reiterated their expectation that the U.S. Government would take appropriate action against the suspected terrorist at present in its jurisdiction.
They emphasised that justice was necessary to bring closure to an event which still evokes outrage and painful memories in the Caribbean from whence the majority of the victims originate.
Eleven Guyanese nationals were among the 73 killed in the incident.
Last month, President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters that the U.S. cannot have double standards on terrorism as well as drug trafficking.
“People should live up to the lectures that they give to other parts of the world,” he stated then.
Posada Carriles, 77, a former agent for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is seeking political asylum in the U.S.
Venezuela said the U.S. would be guilty of double standards if it sheltered a man accused of terrorism while claiming to fight a war on terror.
On October 6, 1976, Flight CU-455 was scheduled to fly the following route: Guyana to Trinidad, Trinidad to Barbados , Barbados to Kingston , Jamaica , and finally Kingston to Havana , Cuba .
It was reported that some nine minutes after take off from Barbados 's Seawell Airport , a bomb located in the aircraft's rear lavatories exploded. All 48 passengers and 25 crew aboard the plane died.
The entire Cuban fencing team, believed to be the intended target, was among those who died when the Cuban jetliner was bombed.