U.S. must press for return of fugitives from Cuba, including Joanne Chesimard

U.S. must press for return of fugitives from Cuba, including Joanne
Chesimard | Opinion
on May 02, 2015 at 8:00 AM, updated May 02, 2015 at 8:05 AM
By Rick Fuentes

I am writing in response to The Star-Ledger editorial, "Chesimard's
status should not affect Cuba-U.S. detente," which appeared April 24 on
NJ.com.

I take exception to this piece, not in disagreement with the editors of
The Star-Ledger that New Jersey's most wanted fugitive is a "vile
sociopath," but with their assertion that the United States lacks the
"leverage or moral authority" to expect that pressing for her return
should stand in the way of the some greater harvest expected from those
covert negotiations.

Joanne Chesimard is not a de minimus issue, not simply a stone in the
shoe that should be shuffled aside for the greater good to be gotten
from a relationship with the repressive Cuban regime of Fidel and Raul
Castro. The fact of the matter is that behind the back of the U.S.
government, over the years the Castro government has offered political
sanctuary to a notorious group of U.S. domestic terrorists of which
Chesimard can claim prominence, but not distinction.

I recently wrote an article appearing in the April 2015 issue of
American Police Beat magazine that underscores precisely the point that
Chesimard, while of greatest interest to the New Jersey, is but one of a
rogue's gallery of fugitives of equally violent criminal pedigrees.
Several of the more violent of this group are well-documented in the
annals of this country's contemporary confrontations with homegrown
domestic terror groups: Willie Morales of the FALN; Victor Manuel
Gerena, a member of the Los Macheteros and presently an FBI Top Ten
fugitive; and, Charles Hill, the only surviving member of a trio of
self-professed members of the Republic of New Afrika, who hijacked an
airplane on a domestic flight in 1971 and fled to Cuba in the aftermath
of their alleged involvement in the murder of a New Mexico state
trooper. Joanne Chesimard was a member of the Black Liberation Army, a
small but violent group that advanced their rhetoric through the barrel
of a gun in the 1970's.

According to the best estimates of the FBI, if you tally the horrendous
activities of these four terror organizations, it should shock all but
the most hardened sensibilities. Altogether these four terror groups
were responsible for 159 bombings, as well as the deaths of 17 police
officers, two military personnel and five American citizens. In addition
to these fatalities, 112 civilians and military personnel and dozens of
police officers were injured. That's a lot of criminal acts and dead
Americans – leverage and moral authority, if you will – to harden our
resolve at the negotiating table, as The Star-Ledger seems to indicate
may not be appropriate for the greater good of achieving normalized
relations.

In no uncertain words, now is the time to press for the immediate return
of all these violent fugitives. Cuba needs the United States more than
the U.S. needs Cuba. Do not replace negotiation with ingratiation.

Ongoing negotiations must include a principled approach that recognizes
the grievances and losses of dozens of American families and loved ones
who have perished or were otherwise grossly injured and maimed in these
bombings and vicious and deliberate street encounters with police.

Joanne Chesimard is but one face on that greater need and expectation to
seek justice for all these families.

Colonel Rick Fuentes is superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

Source: U.S. must press for return of fugitives from Cuba, including
Joanne Chesimard | Opinion | NJ.com -
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/05/us_must_press_for_return_of_fugitives_from_cuba_in.html