Cuba Provides Home to Suspects U.S. Seeks
Cuba remains somewhat of a safe haven for other people wanted by U.S. authorities for hijacking planes, ABC News reported Tuesday. In 1968, more than 30 planes "were hijacked or attempted to be hijacked to Cuba," the network reported, and those who succeeded live as fugitives on the tiny Communist island 90 miles off the Florida coast.
The United States even formalized an agreement with Cuba in 1971 in an effort to retrieve some of the alleged hijackers but yielded the return of only a few fugitives.
"Most of these guys have been there for a long time," Wayne Smith, former chief of the U.S. Interest Section in Cuba, told ABC. "Many of them, like Soltren, hijacked planes, sought refuge and have been living there ever since. By and large, they've been accepted and live normal lives. They have housing and have been assigned jobs."
Not all of the sought criminals hijacked planes to get to Cuba, and they all don't live out in the topen. Among the fugitives suspected of living in the Cuban underground includes Chesimard, 62, also known as Assata Shakur, mother of deceased rap icon Tupac Shakur. Chesimard, who belonged to the radical Black Liberation Army, was convicted in 1977 for shooting a New Jersey state trooper to death. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was last seen in Cuba in 1984.
Another suspected resident of the Cuban underground is Victor Manuel Gerena, who appears on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. The bureau has been chasing Gerena ever since he allegedly stole $7 million from a Wells Fargo armored car depot in Connecticut in 1984.