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The Mysteries of Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway

Those who have held in their hands the famous FBI file on Ernest Hemingway affirm it contains 124 pages, 15 of which even today are still held back “in the interest of national defense”. Of the remaining pages, 40 are covered with black ink except for their greetings and signatures, and several more are practically illegible. Between the readable and those crossed out in black, it is possible to determine that the file holds information on Hemingway gathered between 1942, during the 2nd World War and 1974, almost 15 years after his death.

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My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death

It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination, multiply violating elementary norms of international law. There appears to have been no attempt to apprehend the unarmed victim, as presumably could have been done by 80 commandos facing virtually no opposition – except, they claim, from his wife, who lunged towards them. In societies that profess some respect for law, suspects are apprehended and brought to fair trial. I stress “suspects.”

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El Paso Diary: The Sound and Fury of Otto Reich

Portada de Newsweek. Foto: Página web de Otto Reich www.ottoreich.com

The defendant’s name was barely mentioned in court in today. Instead, Judge Kathleen Cardone allowed the defense attorney to put the New York Times, its journalist Ann Louise Bardach and the Republic of Cuba on trial. Last week, after 11 grueling weeks and 23 witnesses, the Government rested. The prosecution’s final witness was Ann Louise Bardach. Now it is the defense’s turn to present its case-in-chief.

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El Paso Diary: The Cross-Examination of Ann Louise Bardach

Ann Louise Bardach. Foto: Archivo de la familia Bardach

The lawyer representing Luis Posada Carriles has a reputation for aggressive and effective cross-examination. Today his job was to question one of the case’s star witnesses: Ann Louise Bardach. Anticipating the moment, some of the jurors leaned forward when Arturo Hernández approached the witness stand this morning. The African-American in the second row exchanged a knowing look with the Chicano on his right, who was rubbing his hands together with the look of a child about to devour an ice-cream cone.

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El Paso Diary: Tony Álvarez Links Posada Carriles to the Bombings in Havana

Luis Posada Carriles in Miami

Yesterday was a rough day. Today the witness reentered the courtroom with melancholy eyes, a slow step, and his shoulders sagging from the weight of his life’s burdens. But the Government did not have to force Tony Álvarez to come to El Paso to testify against Luis Posada Carriles. He offered of his own free will, just as he did 15 years ago, when he warned Guatemalan intelligence and the FBI that Posada Carriles was involved in a terrorist conspiracy to place bombs in the most famous hotels and restaurants in Cuba.

El Paso Diary: The Battle Over the Solo Fax

Luis Posada Carriles

Today the prosecution suffered a profound setback. Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that a key document that links Luis Posada Carriles to the financing of a series of bombings in Havana in 1997 was inadmissible.