Free Republic

HAVANA -- President Fidel Castro has rejected calls to hand over a black militant convicted in 1973 of killing a New Jersey state trooper, saying she's a victim of racial persecution and not a terrorist, as U.S. officials declared recently. "They wanted to portray her as a terrorist, something that was an injustice, a brutality, an infamous lie," Castro said in a television address Tuesday night. While Castro did not identify the woman by name, he was clearly alluding to Assata Shakur — the former Joanne Chesimard — who was put on a U.S. government terrorist watch list May 2....

Feds offer $1 million reward for fugitive Chesimard EWING, N.J. -- Fugitive cop killer Joanne Chesimard is now on the same terrorist watch lists that include Osama bin Laden. In an indication of how badly New Jersey authorities still want to recapture the Black Liberation Army member who executed a state trooper as he lay on the ground 32 years ago, the bounty on Chesimard's head was increased Monday from $150,000 to $1 million. State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said he hopes the sweetened reward will encourage someone to come forward with information leading to the capture of Chesimard,...