Havana, Jan 19 The former president of Panama, Mireya Moscoso, said she felt proud for having released terrorists Santiago Alvarez, Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, and Pedro Remon from prison.

On August 26, 2004, just days before leaving office, Moscoso pardoned Posada Carriles, Jiménez Escobedo, Remon Perez, and Guillermo Novo Sampol, imprisoned since 2000, who were serving sentences for plotting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during the Tenth Ibero-American Summit, held in Panama City in November, 2000. The terrorists planned to detonate explosives in the auditorium of the University of that city, during a speech by the Cuban leader, an act which, carried out, would have killed hundreds of Panamanians gathered for the occasion.

In 2008, the plenary of the Supreme Court of Panama declared the pardons unconstitutional, while last January 14^th, a Panamanian court upheld the verdict against the terrorists. The Fifth Court upheld criminal convictions in April 2004, of eight years for Posada Carriles and Jimenez, and seven years for Sampol and Perez.

Moscoso said she would pardon them again, and is proud to have gotten them out of jail. She said she believed it was a way to help Cuba. Cuban journalist Edmundo Garcia, a Miami resident, said it was embarrassing to hear the former president laughing and sharing mutual compliments with the terrorists, and the joyful and celebratory atmosphere was offensive.  Moscoso spoke of her business, temporary exile in Miami, and her achievements in Panamanian politics.

Garcia speculated about when the former president would tell the public about her dealings with politicians and lawmakers who demanded clemency for terrorists?

The United States continues to ignore Venezuela´s extradition request for Posada Carriles for the bombing of a Cuban airliner in Barbadosin 1976, which killed 73 people. Documents declassified by Washington recognize that Alvarez Pérez, Jiménez Escobedo and Remon Perez were also involved in numerous terrorist actions against Cuba.

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