Tag: New Jersey cop-killer Joanne Chesimard

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New Jersey Representatives in Rare Agreement on Criticism of the Presidents Cuba Visit

fidel-castro

Garrett: President Should Not Visit Cuba Until Murderers are Returned to U.S.
Menendez : It is totally unacceptable for the president of the United States to reward a dictatorial regime
Feb 18, 2016
the staff  of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ  – Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05) issued the following statement after the Obama Administration announced the president will visit Cuba and meet with President Castro as early as next month:

“I’m disappointed that President Obama is willing to travel to Cuba knowing full well that the Castro regime mocks our laws and continues to harbor convicted New Jersey cop-killer Joanne Chesimard and terrorist William Morales. Despite repeated calls from me and my colleagues, the president has yet to mention the extradition of U.S. fugitives as a condition of building diplomatic relations. Cuba’s refusal to return the fugitives is insulting to everyone who has waited years to see these cold-blooded killers face justice, and the president must prioritize the extradition of U.S. fugitives in all future negotiations with the Cuban regime.”

Garrett has been a longtime critic of the Cuban regime and has repeatedly called on their government to extradite  and terrorist William Morales so they can face justice for their crimes.

While NJ Senator Bob Menendez also criticized the Presidents visit :

“It is totally unacceptable for the president of the United States to reward a dictatorial regime with a historic visit when human rights abuses endure and democracy continues to be shunned,” Menendez, who is Cuban-American, said Thursday. Menendez spoke at the Union of Cuban Ex-Political Prisoners.

“Despite the lack of reciprocity from a despotic and reinvigorated Castro regime, the president is rewarding this oppressive regime with a visit,” Menendez said. “In the case of Cuba, we should at very least expect that Joanne Chesimard will step off Air Force One with U.S. marshals.”

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Garrett to Obama: Prioritize the Extradition of Murderous Fugitives from the Castro regime

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New Jersey cop-killer Joanne Chesimard

Jul 17, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in calling on President Obama to demand that Cuban officials extradite New Jersey cop-killer Joanne Chesimard and New York City terrorist William Morales as the United States announces the reopening of embassies in both countries. Chesimard and Morales are convicted felons who escaped to Cuba and were granted political asylum by the Castro regime. Cuban officials have publicly announced they will not negotiate any extradition as a condition for normalized relations between the United States and Cuba.

“It is imperative that your administration ensures that justice is served by making the extradition of Joanne Chesimard’s and William Morales’ a top priority,” said the group of lawmakers in the letter to President Obama. “In recent months Bernadette Meehan, a National Security Council spokeswoman said “the return from Cuba of fugitives from U.S. justice is an issue of long-standing concern to the United States that will be addressed in the broader context of normalizing relations.” However, there has been no evidence of progress in securing the return of these fugitives.”

Reps. Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02), Tom MacArthur (NJ-03), Leonard Lance (NJ-07), Bill Pascrell (NJ-09), and Peter King (NY-02) also signed Garrett’s letter.

Click here to read the entire letter to President Obama.

About Chesimard and Morales:

Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1977. In 1973, New Jersey State Troopers Werner Foerster and James Harper made a routine traffic stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. When the troopers asked the vehicle’s driver to exit the car, one of the passengers, Joanne Chesimard, pulled out a gun and began shooting. During the ensuing firefight, Foerster was hit twice in the chest and Harper once in the shoulder. The injured Foerster was then shot twice in the head—execution style—with his own sidearm.

William Morales was sentenced to 99 years in prison for his participation with the terrorist organization Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertorriquena (FALN). William Morales was a chief bomb maker for FALN, and he has been linked to the 1979 bombing of Fraunces Tavern in New York City, an attack that injured 60 and killed four.