- Nov 2, 2009
- 8,801
- 5,870
- Occupation
- independent thoughtist thinker, context linker
State Department says Cuba has agreed to open talks about two of the most-wanted US fugitives following re-establishment of diplomatic ties
The US and Cuba will open talks about two of the United States’ most-wanted fugitives as part of a new dialogue about law-enforcement cooperation made possible by President Barack Obama’s decision to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terror, the State Department has announced.
Jeff Rathke, a State Department spokesman, said Cuba had agreed to talks about fugitives including Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who was granted asylum by Fidel Castro after she escaped from a US prison where she was serving a sentence for killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. The US and Cuba will also discuss the case of William Morales, a Puerto Rican nationalist wanted in connection with bombings in New York in the 1970s.
“We see the re-establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of an embassy in Havana as the means by which we’ll be able, more effectively, to press the Cuban government on law enforcement issues such as fugitives. And Cuba has agreed to enter into a law-enforcement dialogue with the United States that will work to resolve these cases,” Rathke said. The dialogue is also expected to address cooperation on more routine crimes, officials said.
A Cuban government spokesman did not return calls seeking comment on Wednesday, but Josefina Vidal, Cuba’s top diplomat for US affairs, recently ruled out any return of political refugees.
On Tuesday night she said that “the Cuban government recognizes the president of the United States’ just decision to take Cuba off a list in which it should never have been included.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/15/cuban-us-fugitives-open-talks-terror-list-ties-warm
The US and Cuba will open talks about two of the United States’ most-wanted fugitives as part of a new dialogue about law-enforcement cooperation made possible by President Barack Obama’s decision to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terror, the State Department has announced.
Jeff Rathke, a State Department spokesman, said Cuba had agreed to talks about fugitives including Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who was granted asylum by Fidel Castro after she escaped from a US prison where she was serving a sentence for killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. The US and Cuba will also discuss the case of William Morales, a Puerto Rican nationalist wanted in connection with bombings in New York in the 1970s.
“We see the re-establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of an embassy in Havana as the means by which we’ll be able, more effectively, to press the Cuban government on law enforcement issues such as fugitives. And Cuba has agreed to enter into a law-enforcement dialogue with the United States that will work to resolve these cases,” Rathke said. The dialogue is also expected to address cooperation on more routine crimes, officials said.
A Cuban government spokesman did not return calls seeking comment on Wednesday, but Josefina Vidal, Cuba’s top diplomat for US affairs, recently ruled out any return of political refugees.
On Tuesday night she said that “the Cuban government recognizes the president of the United States’ just decision to take Cuba off a list in which it should never have been included.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/15/cuban-us-fugitives-open-talks-terror-list-ties-warm