President Mireya Moscoso also commented, saying that "No foreign government has pressured me to take the decision", she told reporters. "I knew that if these men stayed here, they would be extradited to Cuba and Venezuela, and there they were surely going to kill them there." Moscoso's decision was condemned by incoming Panamanian president Martín Torrijos, and speculation was rife that the pardon was politically motivated. Cuba expert Julia E. Sweig said the decision "reeks of political and diplomatic cronyism". Immediately after news of the pardon broke, Venezuela and Cuba withdrew diplomatic ties with Panama. United States (2005–2018) In 2005, Posada requested political asylum in the United States through his attorney. On May 3, 2005, the Supreme Tribunal of Venezuela approved an extradition request for him. Although he was arrested following international pressure on the administration of George W. Bush to treat him on par with other suspects in the War on Terror, the US refused to extradite him to either Venezuela or Cuba. On September 28, 2005, a US immigration judge ruled that Posada could not be deported because he faced the threat of torture in Venezuela. The Venezuelan government reacted angrily to the ruling, accusing the US of having a "double standard in its so-called war on terrorism". The United States government sought to deport Posada elsewhere, but at least seven friendly nations refused to accept him. Posada was referenced in Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2006. Railing against the US for "imperialism" and "hypocrisy", Chávez called Posada "the biggest terrorist of this continent", and said: "Thanks to the CIA and government officials, he was allowed to escape, and he lives here in this country, protected by the government." During a United Nations Security Council meeting to review the work of its three subsidiary counter-terrorism committees, the US was invited by the representatives of Venezuela and Cuba to comment on the evidence (above) in the Posada case. The US representative, Willson, stated that "an individual cannot be brought for trial or extradited unless sufficient evidence has been established that he has committed the offence charged." Willson said removal to Venezuela or Cuba could not be carried out because, she claimed, "it was more likely than not that he would be tortured if he were so transferred." The Venezuelan representative denied the allegation, and pointed to the United States' own