U.S. Reps. Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) and Scott Garrett (R-NJ) recently sent a letter to Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcomittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, to request that the subcommittee withhold funds being used to bridge international relations with Cuba until Cuba returns convicted killer Joanne Chesimard to the U.S.
The subcommittee has the ultimate say on whether resources should be spent on diplomatic talks.
Chesimard, a member of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper named Werner Foerster in 1977. She also critically injured one other state law enforcement officer. After serving only two years of her life sentence in prison, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey and gained political asylum in Cuba. She is listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List.
In February 2015, Cuban officials told U.S. representatives that extraditing Chesimard would never be an option during negotiations.
“Joanne Chesimard has escaped justice for far too long,” Lance said. “High-ranking Cuban officials have already taken her extradition to the United States off the bargaining table. Until Cuba accepts that Joanne Chesimard needs to be held accountable for her crimes, we are asking our colleagues to withhold funds for any negotiations. The Castro regime must understand the residents of our state want justice.”
“The fact that Cuba flat out refuses to extradite Chesimard and questions the judgment of our legal system proves they are not ready to continue discussions to normalize relations with the United States,” Garrett said. “I have repeatedly called on Secretary of State (John) Kerry and the administration to demand that the first part of any diplomatic negotiations with Cuba is returning criminals like cop killer Joanne Chesimard, terrorist William Guillermo Morales and the approximately 70 other fugitives currently living there freely. For too long, the families of these criminals’ victims have been deprived of justice, and the House should seriously consider holding funds for any efforts to normalize diplomatic relations until our fugitives are returned.”
“It is unacceptable to me that President Obama would even consider normalizing relations with a regime that harbors someone convicted of murdering one of New Jersey’s finest, not to mention oppresses its own people and violates basic human rights and freedoms,” MacArthur said.