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| Cuba’s head of North American affairs, Josefina Vidal, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Dec. 22, 2014. Cuba says it’s open to every one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s moves to improve relations between the two countries and strengthen private enterprise and civil society on the island. |
HAVANA (AP)
-- Cuba said Monday that it has a right to grant asylum to U.S.
fugitives, the clearest sign yet that the communist government has no
intention of extraditing America's most-wanted woman despite the warming
of bilateral ties.
New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie has urged President Barack Obama to demand the return of
fugitive Joanne Chesimard before restoring full relations under a
historic detente announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro last
week.
Chesimard was granted asylum by Fidel
Castro after she escaped from the prison where she was serving a
sentence for killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 during a
gunbattle after being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Asked
if returning fugitives was open to negotiation, Cuba's head of North
American affairs, Josefina Vidal, told The Associated Press that "every
nation has sovereign and legitimate rights to grant political asylum to
people it considers to have been persecuted. ... That's a legitimate
right."
"We've explained to the U.S.
government in the past that there are some people living in Cuba to whom
Cuba has legitimately granted political asylum," Vidal said.
"There's no extradition treaty in effect between Cuba and the U.S.," she added.
In
a letter to the White House made public Sunday, Christie said Cuba's
asylum for Chesimard, who has changed her name to Assata Shakur, was "an
affront to every resident of our state, our country, and in particular,
the men and women of the New Jersey State Police, who have tirelessly
tried to bring this killer back to justice."
The
first woman ever placed on the FBI's most-wanted terrorist list was
living so openly in Havana that her number was listed in the phone book.
The FBI and the New Jersey State Police have offered a $2 million reward for information leading to Shakur's capture.
Bernadette
Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House's National Security Council,
said the Obama administration will "continue to press in our engagement
with the Cuban government for the return of U.S. fugitives in Cuba to
pursue justice for the victims of their crimes."
Several
infamous convicts and suspects in high-profile American cases live
openly in Cuba, as are others convicted of less serious crimes. Among
these are a woman convicted of killing a police officer four decades
ago, a man sought for a 31-year-old armed robbery, airplane hijackers
and dozens of people accused of Medicare and insurance fraud.
Cuba
occasionally returns people convicted or suspected of committing crimes
in the U.S., but it doesn't observe traditional extradition and refuses
to send anyone back for a crime Havana considers political in nature,
according to the State Department.
The Castro government's frequent position on returning fugitives has been to ask for the U.S. to return people wanted in Cuba.
"We've
reminded the U.S. government that in its country they've given shelter
to dozens and dozens of Cuban citizens," Vidal said. "Some of them
accused of horrible crimes, some accused of terrorism, murder and
kidnapping, and in every case the U.S. government has decided to welcome
them."
In Cuba's first detailed public
response to Obama's historic announcement last week, Vidal said Cuba is
open to all of Obama's moves to improve relations and strengthen private
enterprise and civil society on the island. That includes U.S.
equipment to improve the Cuban Internet and U.S. exports to Cuba's new
class of private business owners.
"Our
president has said we welcome President Obama's decision to introduce
the most significant changes in relations with Cuba in 54 years," Vidal
said. "That includes the entire package."
Cuba
has historically imposed heavy regulations on the Internet and private
business as it has blamed the U.S. embargo for the problems of the
island's stagnant economy.
Vidal said the U.S.
has been to blame for Cuba's economic problems, which include crumbling
infrastructure, low levels of foreign investment and rates of Internet
access that are among the lowest in the world. The opening is an
opportunity to show what the country can do unshackled, she said.
"Look
back. When have you seen a negative response to the American government
removing any type of restriction?" Vidal said. "What we say is, `Get
rid of the excuse and put us to the test!'"
"We
don't have any reason to reject anything that comes from the United
States that's positive, and that are measures taken to loosen the
blockade," she added.
Cuba is waiting to see exactly how the Obama administration will implement the changes, she said.
Obama's
announcement included a very general list of reforms and left a series
of open questions about how far the U.S. could go to create deeper
economic ties with Cuba. The Commerce and Treasury departments are
expected to begin publishing details of the new measures in coming
weeks, changes that will include relaxation of the stringent rules
governing American travel to Cuba.
Vidal said
Cuba would only know how it would manage its end of the new relationship
once the American government plan was clearer.
"We have to see how we are going to implement things," she said.
