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Cuba and JoAnne Chesimard both have a problem; the Governor of New Jersey, Chris J. Christie, wants her extradited back to New Jersey to serve the rest of her sentence for the killing of a New Jersey State Trooper. Of course State of New Jersey law enforcement officers and many of its citizens stand behind the governor in telling President Obama that her return should be a condition of improving diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba.

I for one agree with the governor, this monster killed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973. She then escaped prison with help and made her way to Cuba where she was granted political asylum in 1986 by the Castro government. The Cuban government has been asked to extradite her and of course we have been told no.

As a condition of normalizing diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, Governor Christie says that Chesimard must be sent back to New Jersey to serve her sentence. She does not deserve the right to live in relative comfort, when the relatives and the citizens of New Jersey demand that she be sent back for the crime of murder that she committed.

One of the things I find that is very strange is that during her time in Cuba she has written a number of books and even had at least one book has been reviewed by the New York Times in a positive light. Plus she has her books sold through major booksellers here in the United States. I am sure there is an audience for her kind of writing, but that is neither here nor there. What does matter is that the revenues she gets from writing these books should go to Trooper Foerster’s family and not to her!

Governor Christie did was write a letter to President Obama in which he said the following- “Cuba’s provision of safe harbor to Chesimard by providing political asylum to a convicted cop killer … is an affront to every resident of our state, our country, and in particular, the men and women of the New Jersey State Police.” Then Christie continued with, “I urge you to demand the immediate return of Chesimard before any further consideration of restoration of diplomatic relations with the Cuban government.”

The Governor is correct on this point and our President must make this a priority. Normalized relations should not be established before having the Cuban government agree in writing that they will deport Chesimard back to the United States and all the funds she might have in any Cuban bank should be handed over to our government. Furthermore Chesimard must not be allowed hide in Cuba and live in relative comfort after the establishment of an embassy by our government. If our government makes this the only provision for us to reestablish relations, then it is a worthwhile point to make a stand on.

It is the hope of our government that by reestablishing diplomatic relations we can somehow influence what happens in Cuba to bring about a democratic form of government. Somehow I think that is a pipe dream and without having any requirements made of Cuba; President Obama will only cause Cuba to benefit from commerce from our large business community. And Castro will not yield anything to us or his own people.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike