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Castro regime still harbors American cop killers, Colombian and Basque terrorists
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues, today urged Secretary of State John Kerry to not recommend the removal of Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List. In December, President Obama requested that the State Department conduct a review of Cuba’s status on the list, “guided by the facts and the law.”
In a letter to Kerry, Rubio highlighted the Castro regime’s harboring of fugitives the Federal Bureau of Investigation has designated as “terrorists”, as well as its support of terrorist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA).
“I am greatly disturbed by recent media reports that you are considering recommending to the President that he de-list Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List (SSTL),” Rubio wrote. “I believe that there should be no consideration of such a step while Cuba still harbors fugitives labeled “terrorists” by the FBI, provides support and safe harbor to members of terrorist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) and continues to flout international norms with respect to weapons smuggling and an ongoing relationship with North Korea.”
“The United States cannot in good faith remove Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List while the Castro regime harbors terrorists who have killed Americans, actively supports designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations by harboring their members and continues to flout international law through clandestine weapon transfers with a rogue regime like North Korea,” Rubio added.
A PDF of the letter is available here, and the text is below.
March 5, 2015
The Honorable John Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20220
Dear Secretary Kerry,
I am greatly disturbed by recent media reports that you are considering recommending to the President that he de-list Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List (SSTL). I believe that there should be no consideration of such a step while Cuba still harbors fugitives labeled “terrorists” by the FBI, provides support and safe harbor to members of terrorist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) and continues to flout international norms with respect to weapons smuggling and an ongoing relationship with North Korea.
Cuba continues to provide a safe haven for convicted terrorists like William Morales, a Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertorriquena (FALN) bomb maker who was implicated in a string of bombings in the United States in the late 1970s that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. Morales escaped U.S. custody after his initial imprisonment and has apparently been provided safe harbor by the government of Cuba since the 1980s. Morales is just one of many fugitives who have left a wake of murders and bereaved families in their path, while many others have committed fraudulent acts against hard-working Americans. Another prominent case is that of convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard, who remains on the FBIs Most Wanted list and has been openly harbored by the Castro regime, which again this week vowed never to return her to the United States.
Cuba also provides support to ETA by refusing to extradite terrorists Angel Urtiaga and Jose Ignacio Etxarte. They have been wanted since 2010 in a probe into alleged links between Venezuela, ETA and the Colombian rebel group FARC. Last week, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo stated that Spain would like the United States to have these terrorists extradited to Spain as part of any talks regarding removing Cuba from the SSTL.
The United States cannot in good faith remove Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List while the Castro regime harbors terrorists who have killed Americans, actively supports designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations by harboring their members and continues to flout international law through clandestine weapon transfers with a rogue regime like North Korea.
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
United States Senator