Tipsheet

Christie to Obama: Cuba Should Send Back Cop Killer Joanne Chesimard Before U.S. Goes Further With Normalization

New Jersey Governor and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie has sent a letter to President Obama urging him to have convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, extradited from Cuba to the United States to finish her prison sentence. 

In 1973 former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, killed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in cold blood during a traffic stop. Shakur took Foerster's police issued firearm and used it to shoot him twice in the head. In 1977 Shakur was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Foester's family never received full justice as Chesimard escaped in 1979, fled to Cuba and been protected by the Castro regime ever since. She is listed on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list with a $1 million reward for information leading to her arrest.

"I urge you to demand the immediate return of Chesimard before any further consideration of restoration of diplomatic relations with the Cuban government," the letter states. "If, as you assert, Cuba is serious about embracing democratic principles then this action would be an essential first step."


There are dozens of violent U.S. convicts living in Cuba under the protection of the Castro regime.