The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) demanded Tuesday that any normalization of relations with Cuba be conditioned upon the immediate return of criminals who murdered police officers and were given refuge there, the
Washington Free Beacon reported.
The union, which represents more than 300,000 police officers, said it was irresponsible for the Obama Administration to make diplomatic overtures to Havana while the communist regime provides refuge for cop killers.
The FOP called on President Barack Obama "to reject any changes in our relationship with the Cuban government unless and until the issue of these murderous fugitives is resolved to our satisfaction."
It added that "the blood of American law enforcement officers doing their job on American soil is too high a price to pay for closer ties with the Cuban regime."
The FOP has joined New Jersey officials and the FBI in demanding that Cuba return JoAnne Chesimard, 67, a former member of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army (BLA), to finish her murder sentence.
On May 2, 1973, Chesimard — who had been involved in a series of robberies and attacks on police — murdered New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster with his own service revolver after he stopped her and two other suspects on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Foerster's partner, Trooper James Harper, was severely wounded in the attack.
Chesimard was captured, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. But in 1979, three BLA members helped her escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women, driving away in a prison van and taking guards as hostages, the
New York Daily News reported.
Five years later, she reportedly surfaced in Cuba under the name Assata Shakur and was granted political asylum by Cuban ruler Fidel Castro.
On May 2, 2013 — the 40th anniversary of Trooper Foerster's murder — Chesimard was added to the U.S.
"Most Wanted Terrorists" list, becoming the first female fugitive so designated.
Meanwhile, authorities in New Mexico are demanding that the Obama administration pressure Havana to send back fugitive Charlie Hill, who has admitted his involvement in the 1971 murder of New Mexico State Police Officer Robert Rosenbloom during a traffic stop. Hill, a member of a radical group called the "Republic of New Afrika," was asked during a
1999 interview in Havana if he regretted killing Officer Rosenbloom, KRQE reports.
"No, he got what he deserved," Hill replied.