New Jersey officials and the FBI hope this week's agreement to restore relations with Cuba will allow them to bring back former Black Panthers and Black Liberation Army member JoAnne Chesimard, 67, to finish her sentence for the 1973 shooting death of a state trooper.
"We view any changes in relations with Cuba as an opportunity to bring her back to the United States to finish her sentence for the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973," State Police Col. Rick Fuentes said in a Facebook statement Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Fuentes
told The Los Angeles Times that his department is standing by the $2 million reward money and hope it shows results.
"Chesimard isn’t the only fugitive down there wanted for a violent crime, and she’s already been convicted, so it’s a matter of bringing her back and sending her back to jail," he told The Times.
"There’s other people that surround her that Castro has taken a liking to and it’s been very, very difficult in their particular cases to have discussions to get them out."
Chesimard was involved in a spree of attacks on police officers and robberies when she killed Foerster, shooting the 34-year-old officer twice in the head with his service revolver, after he pulled over Chesimard and two fellow suspects on the New Jersey Turnpike, reports
the New York Daily News.
She was captured and sentenced to life, but escaped in 1979 and fled to Cuba and political asylum.
Chesimard has been on the United States' Most Wanted Terrorists list since 2013 and that designation doubled the reward on her head to $2 million.
She is also on New Jersey's Most Wanted List as a convicted felon and fugitive, said Fuentes.
Chesimard escaped prison with the help of three BLA members, who helped her get away from the Clinton Correctional Facility by taking hostages and spiriting her away in a prison van.
Five years later, she appeared in Cuba and used the pen name Assata Shakur to write an autobiography. Authorities attempted and failed to extradite her in 1998.
"As long as there is an active warrant for Chesimard, the FBI will continue to pursue justice, regardless of how long it takes, and are hopeful any changes in relations between the United States and Cuba, will assist us with her apprehension and return," said Aaron Ford, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Newark,
reports NJ.com.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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