On or Off Cuba Ping. During freedom44's temporary absence from the board until May 15, I am pinging the Cuba ping list.
Posted on 05/10/2005 8:12:47 PM PDT by nuconvert
May 10, 2005
Cuban Leader Denounces U.S. Hunt for Convicted Cop Killer
By John Rice
Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Tuesday appeared to defend convicted police-killer Assata Shakur, saying the woman who fled to Cuba is innocent and a victim of persecution. Castro did not refer to the woman, who changed her name from Joanne Chesimard, by name, but his remarks described the woman who was placed on a U.S. government terrorist watch list on May 2.
Speaking in a lengthy televised appearance, Castro referred to her as a victim of "the fierce repression against the Black movement in the United States" and said she had been "a true political prisoner."
Shakur fled to Cuba after escaping from prison in 1979. A New Jersey jury convicted the Black Liberation Army member of shooting a State Trooper Werner Foerster as he lay on the ground in 1973.
"They have always been hunting her, searching for her because of the fact that there was an accident in which a policeman died," Castro said.
Shakur denied shooting the officer.
New Jersey authorities, whose records still refer to her as Chesimard, on May 2 raised the reward for her capture from $150,000 to $1 million.
Castro said the appeal for her expulsion had been raised with him several years ago by a woman who was both "a friend of Cuba" and a friend of then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.
"I transmitted my opinion to the president of the United States," he said, though he did not specify who the woman was nor when she visited.
He made clear the case involved New Jersey, saying that it involved the same state as that of former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli.
"They wanted to portray her as a terrorist, something that was an injustice, a brutality, an infamous lie," Castro said.
Castro suggested that the action was meant to divert attention from Cuba's demand that U.S. officials arrest Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted in Venezuela on charges of involvement in blowing up a civilian Cuban jetliner in 1976, killing 73 people.
pong
I'd like to know more about this. Are we really protecting someone who's wanted in Venezuela for blowing up a jet?
More info on Posada Carriles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1399947/posts
I agree with this post:
"if he killed those people, he should be executed IMO."
I don't give a damn if he's anti-Castro, even though I hate Castro's guts.
USA: "Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses..."
Castro: "Give us your cop killers, your murderers, your homeless bums..."
As I recall, Fidel knows something about black movements, what with his 2 appointees whose skin color is darker than octaroon. The Cuban government is more racist than South Africa's.
About 60% of Cuba's population is either black or mulatto, but only about 10% of the Central Government Politburo is of those backgrounds. I wouldn't say that the Cuban government is more racist than SA's, though that certainly doesn't change the fact that it's evil. JFK did the world a great disservice when he refused the Cuban exile army their needed air support or when he refused to support the Escambray rebels.
The SA government has just around 10% white representation, if that, in its national ranks. That's roughly their proportion in the population. I don't think there are any Indian Natl Assembly members, though. And I'm pretty sure that the confiscatory tax structure in SA is about as racist as you can get now.
The Cuban government, on the other hand, has an even more confiscatory tax structure. From each, according to his abilities, to each, according to his relation to Fidel. And Fidel don't shop in the black market much, evidently.
I'd call the Cuban government more racist any day...but that doesn't mean that SA isn't on the short list of the new, acceptable form of racism we call affirmative action.
On or Off Cuba Ping. During freedom44's temporary absence from the board until May 15, I am pinging the Cuba ping list.
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