Cubans to open talks about US fugitives as ties warm

Cubans to open talks about US fugitives as ties warm
BY MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN AND MATTHEW LEE ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/15/2015 5:58 PM 04/15/2015 5:58 PM

HAVANA
The U.S. and Cuba will open talks about two of America's 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 announced Wednesday.

Cuban officials and ordinary citizens alike hailed Obama's action to
remove the island from the list, saying it heals a decades-old insult to
national pride and clears the way to swiftly restore diplomatic relations.

State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke 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 U.S. prison
where she was serving a sentence for killing a New Jersey state trooper
in 1973. The U.S. 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 reestablishment 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 immediately return calls seeking
comment Wednesday, but Josefina Vidal, Cuba's top diplomat for U.S.
affairs, recently ruled out any return of political refugees.

Still she said Tuesday night 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."

Cuban and U.S. foreign-policy experts said the two governments appeared
to have taken a major leap toward the reopening of embassies in Havana
and Washington after four months of complex and occasionally frustrating
negotiations.

"This is important because it speaks to Obama's desire to keep moving
forward," said Esteban Morales, a political science professor at the
University of Havana. "Now there are no political obstacles. What
remains are organizational and technical problems, which can be resolved."

In a message to Congress, Obama said Tuesday that Cuba's government "has
not provided any support for international terrorism" over the last six
months and has given "assurances that it will not support acts of
international terrorism in the future."

Cuba will officially be removed from the terrorism list 45 days after
the president's message was sent to Congress. Lawmakers could vote to
block the move during that window, though Obama would be nearly certain
to veto such a measure.

Rathke said Cuba had also provided assurances that Basque nationalists
living in Cuba would never be allowed out to carry out future attacks
against Spain.

What remains to be seen is whether Cuba will allow U.S. diplomats to
move around Cuba and maintain contacts with citizens including
dissidents, the second point of contention in the negotiations on
restoring full diplomatic relations.

Cuba is highly sensitive to any indication the U.S. is supporting
domestic dissent and that issue could prove considerably tougher than
amending the terrorism list. The Obama administration made little
pretense in recent years that it believed Cuba was still supporting
terrorism.

Cuba was put on the list in 1982 because of what the U.S. said were its
efforts "to promote armed revolution by organizations that used
terrorism." That included support for leftist guerrilla groups including
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Basque separatist
movement ETA in Spain.

Cuba renounced direct support for militant groups years ago and is
sponsoring peace talks between the FARC and Colombia's government. Spain
no longer appears to be actively seeking the return of inactive ETA
members who may be in Cuba.

For Cubans, the terrorism list was a particularly charged issue because
of the U.S. history of supporting exile groups responsible for attacks
on the island, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger flight
from Barbados that killed 73 people aboard. The attack was linked to
Cuban exiles with ties to U.S.-backed anti-Castro groups, and both men
accused of masterminding the crime took shelter in Florida, where one,
Luis Posada Carriles, lives to this day.

"It's really good that they finally took us off the list even though the
reality is that we never should have been there," said Rigoberto
Morejon, a member of the Cuban national fencing team who lost three
training partners in the bombing. He added that the hoped "we can keep
advancing in the re-establishment of relations."

Beyond the emotional impact, the terrorism list hobbled Cuba's ability
to do business internationally.

A 1996 law that strips sovereign immunity from nations on the list that
engage in extrajudicial killings exposed Cuba to huge judgments in U.S.
courts when mainly Cuban-American families accused the Cuban government
of responsibility for the deaths of loved ones, said Robert Muse, a
Washington-based lawyer who specializes in U.S. law on Cuba.

The perceived and real risks of doing business with a country on the
list also made it highly difficult for Cuba to do business with foreign
banks. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington has been forced to deal
in cash since it lost its bank in the U.S. last year. The ability to
reopen a U.S. bank account is one of Cuba's most urgent demands in the
negotiations to reopen embassies. While that decision falls to
individual banks, removal from the list will make it easier.

The listing also prevented U.S. representatives at the World Bank and
other global financial bodies from approving credit for Cuba, which is
increasingly strapped for cash.

Obama's decision was welcomed on the streets of Havana.

"Finally!" said Mercedes Delgado, a retired accountant. "The door's
opened a little more. That's always good."

---

Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweissenstein

Source: Cubans to open talks about US fugitives as ties warm | Miami
Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article18558467.html