Title

The Case of the Extradition of Luis Posada Carriles: Is the United States Harboring a Terrorist?

Abstract

"The Case of the Extradition of Luis Posada Carriles: Is the United States Harboring a Terrorist?", is the product of an independent research and writing exercise that I undertook to satisfy a writing requirement as editor of the American University International Law Review. The comment analyses the international obligations of the United States in the face of Venezuela’s request for the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born anti-Castro militant accused by Venezuela of bombing a civil airplane in 1976. The comment argues that under the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Montreal Convention) and the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (Terrorist Bombings Convention), the United States, which currently holds Posada Carriles in immigration detention for illegally entering the country in 2005, is bound to investigate Venezuela’s allegations and to extradite or prosecute Posada Carriles if such allegations are well-founded.

Disciplines

International Law

Date of this Version

July 2006