On Cuba, Obama again comes up short at negotiating table

On Cuba, Obama again comes up short at negotiating table | Opinion
By Rodney Frelinghuysen

I never met New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. I never made the
acquaintance of his widow or his family or friends. But I know he lived,
he served the people of New Jersey with distinction and, sadly, he died
doing the job he loved.

Trooper Foerster was killed in cold blood over forty years ago by Joanne
Chesimard, a fugitive who now lives in freedom in Cuba.

That is why I found President Obama's stage appearance with Cuban
dictator Raul Castro at the recent Organization of American States
Summit particularly disturbing.
But then it occurred to me: maybe the President Obama just never saw a
newspaper article or media report about Trooper Foerster or his killer!

Maybe he does not know that Chesimard was convicted of killing Trooper
Foerster with his own handgun while he lied on the ground along the New
Jersey Turnpike.
It is possible that President Obama has not read that Chesimard stood
trial in New Jersey, was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life
plus at least 26 years in prison for her crimes.

Maybe President Obama is not aware that she escaped from prison in
Clinton, in part, by kidnapping a corrections officer and a prison driver.

Perhaps he did not know that Chesimard fled to Cuba in the 1980s and was
quickly granted political asylum by Fidel Castro's regime?

And I guess it is possible that President Obama has not seen media
accounts that since then confirm that Chesimard is on the FBI's most
wanted list, right next to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri!

So, despite these facts, President Obama enthusiastically builds a case
for wide-open relations with the Castro regime with no apparent strings
attached. And, he's fighting to lift travel and trade restrictions on
the backs of decades of oppression.

As with his dealings with Iran's leadership, President Obama has shown
himself to be an awful negotiator who gives more than he receives. In
the case of Cuba, he appears to be handing the Castro regime everything
it wants, including deletion from the State Department's list of State
Sponsors of Terrorism, without placing serious demands on the Castro
government.

We all know that Cuba continues, to this day, to detain, imprison,
prosecute and otherwise restrict its citizens' rights to express their
political views. But besides harboring several known cop killers,
arsonists and terrorist bombers, Cuba has colluded with North Korea to
smuggle jets and other weaponry in direct violation of U.N. resolutions,
trafficked in arms and explosives, launched cyber-attacks, confiscated
private assets and provided financing to African revolutionary groups,
in addition to providing aid and comfort to all sorts of malevolent
groups in our hemisphere.

This is why I decided to co-sponsor the Cuba Human Rights Act (H.R.
1782) and legislation aimed at blocking President Obama's intention to
remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

How ironic it is that Castro brothers jail their own countrymen for
their views and yet protect the freedom of a fugitive convicted killer
from another country?

Mr. President, I hope you read this column and before you agree to any
more concessions to Cuba, you will make sure Joanne Chesimard is back in
a New Jersey prison to answer for her crimes.

Rodney Frelinghuysen is a Republican representing New Jersey's 11th
Congressional District.

Source: On Cuba, Obama again comes up short at negotiating table |
Opinion | NJ.com -
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