Return fugitive who killed NJ state trooper

Cuba critics:
Return fugitive who killed NJ state trooper before we relax restrictions

http://www.northjersey.com/news/national/111809_Cuba_critics_Return_fugitive_who_killed_NJ_state_trooper_before_we_relax_restrictions.html

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
BY HERB JACKSON

Critics of relaxing travel restrictions to Cuba said today that the
Castro regime first has to agree to return criminal fugitives,
including a woman who murdered a New Jersey state trooper in 1973.

"Cuba has insulted not only the state of New Jersey but also the
entire justice system of the United States," Rep. Scott Garrett,
R-Wantage, said at a briefing for members of Congress and aides
arranged by a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Normalization cannot come without concessions from the Cuba regime."

The committee is holding a hearing Thursday on whether to lift the
trade and travel restrictions that were imposed on Cuba after Fidel
Castro seized power.

Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the state police, told the
briefing he still has two detectives assigned to the case of Joanne
Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Army who killed a trooper
after a traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike and was broken out of
a state prison in 1979.

"She enjoys rock star status in Cuba," Fuentes said.

Now known as Assata Shakur, she has unrestricted access to the
island, a car, and free housing in exchange for being an
anti-American "propaganda specialist for the Castro government," Fuentes said.

"We simply need to get her back on U.S. soil. Until that point, the
pressure is not going to cease from our delegation," he said. The
state has offered a $1 million reward for her capture and return.

New Jersey lawmakers are largely united across party lines in
demanding Cuban concessions, but several at the briefing were
concerned some colleagues in the House were willing to look the other
way over fugitives and human rights violations.

Reps. Chris Smith, R-Robbinsville, and Albio Sires, D-West New York,
both criticized a delegation from the Congressional Black Caucus that
visited Cuba earlier this year and failed to raise either issue.

"The fact that Joanne Chesimard remains free in Cuba after having
brutally gunned down a state trooper … is an outrage beyond words," Smith said.

Smith, a longtime human rights crusader, said he has tried repeatedly
to get permission to travel to Cuba because he wants to visit prisons
and ask to see political prisoners. His requests have been ignored, he said.
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E-mail: jackson@northjersey.com

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