l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 New Jersey governor: No Cuba flights until fugitive returned
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wants the bistate agency
that controls the state's airports to reject any efforts to launch flight
service between Newark and Cuba until a woman convicted of killing a state
trooper is returned to the United States.
The Republican governor, who is running for president, sent a letter Tuesday
to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman John Degnan and urged
the authority to reject any regular flight routes between Newark Liberty
International Airport and the island nation until Joanne Chesimard is
extradited to the U.S.
"It is unacceptable to me as Governor to have any flights between New Jersey
and Cuba until and unless convicted cop-killer and escaped fugitive Joanne
Chesimard is returned to New Jersey to face justice," Christie wrote in the
letter obtained by The Associated Press.
"I will not tolerate rewarding the Cuban government for continuing to harbor
a fugitive," he said.
Chesimard was convicted in 1977 in the death of Trooper Werner Foerster
during a gunfight after being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973;
she was sentenced to life in prison but escaped and made her way to Cuba,
where Fidel Castro granted her asylum and she has been living under the name
Assata Shakur.
Chicago-based United Airlines has expressed interest in launching flight
service from Newark to Cuba, as the U.S. continues to loosen travel
restrictions as part of an effort to normalize relations between the two
nations.
United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said that the airline intends to request
the flights once an agreement is reached between the two nations under which
airlines can apply to begin commercial air service. Asked about Christie's
letter, Johnson said, "We remain very interested in serving Cuba as soon as
we are able to do so, and believe United's service would benefit the airport
and the region."
Degnan said in a statement that he would begin an "immediate review" of the
proposed route.
"I understand Gov. Christie's strongly expressed concerns and will commence
an immediate review of the agency's role in the proposed flight between
Newark and Cuba," he said. "I expect that review will be completed in a
matter of days."
Christie, whose campaign has had trouble gaining traction in a crowded field
, has been a vocal critic of improved relations between the U.S. and Cuba,
especially the Obama administration's decision to formally remove Cuba from
a U.S. terrorism blacklist.
Meanwhile, United's relationship with the Port Authority has come under
scrutiny from federal investigators amid allegations that the airline
resumed a money-losing flight from Newark to South Carolina, near where the
Port Authority's former chairman had a vacation home, at the same time
United was pressing for concessions from the agency, including a new hangar
at the Newark airport, rent reductions and a commuter rail-line extension
that would connect the airport directly to lower Manhattan.
The flights were discontinued several days after Port Authority chairman
David Samson stepped down in late March 2014. |
|
