Lawmakers want Cuba to return felons

Published Saturday, May 2, 1998, in the Miami Herald

Lawmakers want Cuba to return felons

WASHINGTON -- (AP) -- Twenty-five years have passed since New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster was shot to death. Now the fate of his convicted killer could become a key determinant of relations between the United States and Cuba.

Joanne Chesimard is one of about 90 felons who found safe haven in Fidel Castro's Cuba, according to lawmakers who want to turn up pressure on Castro to send them back.

The lawmakers say the fugitives' return should be a condition of any further normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.

``Fidel Castro is protecting a cold-blooded cop killer,'' Rep. Bob Franks, R-N.J., said at a news conference promoting a resolution he has sponsored. ``There can and must be no safe haven for Joanne Chesimard and the 90 other convicted criminals who have fled to Cuba.''

Chesimard was convicted in 1977 of killing Foerster and injuring another trooper who stopped her and two friends on the New Jersey Turnpike on May 2, 1973. Sentenced to life in prison, she made a daring daylight escape from prison in 1979 when four of her visitors took a guard and a prison driver hostage.

The Franks resolution is a nonbinding statement calling upon Cuba to return Chesimard, 50, and all other fugitives. It says the extradition of fugitives should be ``a top priority'' of the U.S. government in its relationship with the Castro government.

Two Miami Republican representatives gave their blessing to Franks' resolution, saying it underscores the type of leader Castro is.

``It's very important for the American people to understand this is normal behavior for Fidel Castro -- to give safe harbor to terrorists, to drug dealers, to cop killers,'' said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart said the worst criminal living in Cuba ``is Fidel Castro himself.''