Justice, Bambi, and Che

At Babalu they found it delicious, and Carlos Alberto Montaner’s column on the parallel lives of Luis Posada Carriles and Che Guevara had a literary quality to it, but to me it was a study in ambiguity.

Above all, Montaner instructs us as to how, for many Cubans outside Cuba, Posada’s case is not about what to do with Posada right now. Instead, the spotlight on Posada provokes painful reflection about revolutionary violence and those who got away with it. And in that regard, El Che, of worldwide t-shirt fame, is particularly galling. Montaner accuses the media, everyone’s favorite whipping boy these days, of hypocrisy. Posada’s past is being dredged up, while Che gets a movie about his incredible road trip with his buddy Granados.

The Posada episode may turn out like the Elian Gonzalez case. For a significant segment of exiles, the clearcut legal issues – custody of a child with one surviving parent, disposition of an individual with a terrorist past and a pending extradition request – are secondary, overwhelmed by a national political grievance. The issue of justice doesn’t rest primarily with Posada, his deeds, and how a court would judge them. What matters is the historical injustice that would prevail if Posada is tried and others are not.

There are differences: Unlike in Elian’s case, Miami political leaders are generally quiet about Posada, considering that this is post-9/11. And Posada’s case is first and foremost a federal matter.

President Bush has a narrow set of issues to settle. He declared a war on terror and sets standards for the world to follow. His supporters praise his “moral clarity.” Posada entered U.S. territory, the President’s Justice Department labeled him a terrorist, and the FBI links him to the 1997 Havana hotel bombings. Either the United States brings him to justice, or it does not. Either decision will affect anti-terrorism efforts, which require consistency on the part of the government and cooperation from other countries.

Not much room for ambiguity.