US-Cuban Friendship Might Mean Prison for Assata Shakur
LatestThe United States and Cuba are friends again? Great. Friends that negotiate the extradition of Assata Shakur, aka JoAnne Chesimard, a Black Panther who was framed for killing a cop in America and found asylum in Cuba? Not great.
As news outlets pour over the details of the U.S. and Cuba mending fences after 53 years, one bit is absolutely bad news. The F.B.I. still has Shakur on their top ten most wanted list and one New Jersey congressman hopes to use this international truce as a way of bringing her back to America and putting her in prison. From New Jersey Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Morris:
To me, the New Jersey law enforcement community and many other Americans, one of the biggest impediments to improved relations between the United States and Cuba is the continued safe haven provided to the fugitive, JoAnne Chesimard,” Frelinghuysen stated. “I would demand that the White House and the State Department work much harder to bring this murderer ‘home’ to New Jersey where she can face justice and serve out her sentence.
Chesimard, was convicted of the 1973 execution-style murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster along the New Jersey Turnpike and sentenced to life in prison. She escaped from prison in 1979 and eventually fled to Cuba where she has been provided refuge.
Yeah, that’s why we can’t get along, that damn safe haven for Assata Shakur.