The former CIA agent Luis Posada Carriles dies
Luis Posada Carriles, the Cuban exile and former CIA agent who tried on multiple occasions to attempt against Fidel Castro's regime, died early Wednesday morning. He had turned ninety years old in February. "He died around 5 in the morning," confirmed his lawyer Arturo Hernández. "He was sick for quite some time".
Posada died at the Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Broward. Previously he was in a center for veterans, in Pembroke Pines, according to close sources.
Posada suffered several attacks and his health had deteriorated after suffering throat cancer. Also, back in 2015 he suffered several fractures in a car accident. He is survived by two sons, Yanet and Jorge Posada, with whom he did not have close relationships.
"I'm very sorry because I spent five years of my life defending him and at that time he manifested himself as a great person, at least he tried to do something for Cuba", Hernández added.
"I spoke with him yesterday and I felt him strong", said his friend Fernando Valdés from Guatemala. Valdés hosted a party at his home in Miami to celebrate Carriles's birthday in February, one of the last events where he was seen in public.
By will of Posada Carriles, his remains will be cremated and his ashes will be thrown near the coasts of Cuba, according to declarations made for El Nuevo Herald by Humberto López, member of the board of the 2506 Brigade. The Brigade, of which Posada Carriles was member, will perform an honor guard during his funerals, which are still in preparation.
Posada Carriles was a controversial figure, considered a hero by many Cuban exiles, for his participation in the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs and other attempts to overthrow the late Fidel Castro. But the Cuban government considers him a terrorist because of his connection with the shooting down of the Cubana de Aviación airplane in Barbados in October 1976, which left 73 dead.
"We were with Posada at a private party that ended up being a great public act when he turned 90, very recently", said Antonio (Tony) Calatayud, a Bay of Pigs veteran and former WQBA news director La Cubanísima, from the restaurant Versailles, from Little Havana.
"I was his companion in the 2506 Brigade when the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, then in the Cuban Representation of the Exile, in a moment [Jorge] Más Canosa and I were his bosses, both here and in Venezuela and Cuba we have worked together to the freedom of our country He was a very good man, very affectionate, helpful, brother and patriot. He is an icon of the struggle for freedom of Cuba, "he said.
Upon hearing of his death, the radio station La Poderosa, a bastion of the so-called historical exile, made a minute of silence. A crying listener called him "a leader of freedom and justice ... and a very worthy man". "The death of Posada Carriles has been a very hard blow for us because he was a defender of democracy throughout the world", said another listener.
