FBI: Cuba hiding dozens of wanted fugitives

FBI: Cuba hiding dozens of wanted fugitives
posted at 4:10 pm on October 13, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Congress and the Obama administration have proposed easing tensions with
Cuba and relaxing travel and business restrictions as a means of
normalizing diplomatic relations after fifty years of hostility. Before
we begin servicing Havana with American commercial flights, though, ABC
News wonders whether Cuba will cough up dozens of fugitives hiding on
the island from US authorities. The surrender of a hijacker who eluded
prosecution for over 40 years prompted the FBI to remind people of those
on the most-wanted lists:

There are believed to be dozens of other Americans living in Cuba
beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Most of them have been holed
in Cuba for decades, with many living casually in plain sight. Others,
however, are taking no chances and living deep underground.

The best known American fugitive still hiding out in Cuba is
JoanneChesimard, 62, also known as Assata Shakur.

Chesimard, a member of the radical activist organization the Black
Liberation Army, was found guilty of first degree murder in the shooting
death of a New Jersey state trooper in 1977. She escaped from prison in
1979 and was last seen in Cuba in 1984. She is widely believed to still
be living underground in Cuba. …

Among the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives — a list that includes
Osama bin Laden — is Victor Manuel Gerena. Gerena has been on the lam
since 1984 after being accused of stealing $7 million in the heist of
the Wells Fargo armored car depot in Connecticut to finance a Puerto
Rican separatist group.

Chesimard is now known better by her nom de guerre, Assata Shakur. A
jury convicted her of first-degree murder in the 1970s for a shootout
that killed New Jersey trooper Werner Foerster, and seven other felony
counts related to the incident. She escaped in 1979 and fled to Cuba,
where she lives openly, in defiance of US authorities who want her
returned to prison.

In fact, as one might guess, the fugitives suspected of living in Cuba
comprise a who's-who of radical leftist politics in the 1960s and 1970s.
Fidel Castro certainly offered his hospitality to those who hated the
US and didn't mind using violence to show it. Oddly, though, one
prominent rogue capitalist is also on the list: Robert Vesco, who stole
as much as $200 million from investors before being discovered in 1982,
and who also contributed illegally to the re-election campaign of …
Richard Nixon.

Maybe Castro likes having Vesco there as an example. Or, perhaps,
Castro liked Vesco's money more than his politics.

If the US wants to pursue normal relations with Cuba, these fugitives
should be part of the transaction. The Castros need to quit sheltering
those who killed and maimed here in the US if they want access to
American markets and American consumers.

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October 2009)
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