Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), a longtime advocate of human rights in Cuba, today said he is concerned that President Obama, with his trip to Cuba and his decision to embrace the Raul and Fidel Castro regime, will continue to make human rights victims a low priority. Cubans have endured decades of human rights abuses at the hands of the Castros, who have harbored U.S. fugitives and stymied U.S. law enforcement efforts to extradite Joanne Chesimard, the convicted murderer of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, and other U.S. fugitives.

Smith, chairman of the House panel that oversees international human rights, has cautioned against rosy assumptions that the opening of trade relations with Cuba will automatically usher in an era of democracy and freedom. Smith will chair a human trafficking hearing March 22 that will have a strong focus on the Cuban government’s actions involving human trafficking. 

“As has been the case with China, Vietnam and other places were people suffer basic human rights abuses at the hands of their own governments, the President has engaged many foreign governments with a seemingly low priority for the people suffering in those countries,” Smith said. “Is this trip to Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro about trying to carve out a place in the history books, or about being the leader of the free world in places where free speech, free press, freedom of religion and other basic rights are routinely trampled?”

“On the eve of the President’s visit, the Castro regime arrested and imprisoned Rev. Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso, a tireless advocate for human rights and religious freedom in Cuba,” Smith said. “They also put his wife Yoaxis under house arrest. President Obama should demand his release and the release of other political and religious prisoners of conscience in Cuba. Not only does this reveal the regime’s contempt for the Cuban people, but I believe it also shows its contempt for the President during his visit and for the United States, as well.”

Smith authored the bipartisan Cuba Human Rights Act of 2015 following a congressional hearing he chaired entitled “Human Rights in Cuba: A Squandered Opportunity.” Former Cuban political prisoners, some of whom spent as many as 20-plus years in prison, testified about numerous instances of abuse, including torture, and discrimination and other human rights violations on the island.

The legislation further states that “Cuba continues to be a destination country for the commercial sexual exploitation of women and girls in the form of sex tourism, as well as a source country for the forced labor of individuals who subsequently face conditions of debt bondage or forced labor.”

Smith also said that the return of fugitives, including Joanne Chesimard, should have been a precondition to any opening to Cuba: “By not conditioning his visit to Cuba on the return of convicted murderer Joanne Chesimard and other fugitives, once again the President squandered an opportunity to promote justice and bring closure to the families of murder victims.” 

Smith  has a long history of advocacy on the issue of fugitives. Smith authored and Rep. Albio Sires (NJ-08) co-authored a bipartisan bill, H.R. 2189, known as the “Walter Patterson and Werner Foerster Justice and Extradition Act,” which honors Walter Patterson, a World War II veteran, as well as Foerster. They both were viciously murdered by criminals who were convicted, escaped prison, and fled abroad, where they live freely and with impunity  today. Click here to read the bill. The Cuba Human Rights Act would likewise require the executive branch to report to Congress on the number of fugitives in Cuba and other countries which our government is seeking to extradite as well as the efforts it has undertaken to secure their return.

For years Smith has been active in advocating for Cuban political prisoners, including Dr. Óscar Elías Biscet, M.D., a courageous human rights advocate who has spent over 11 years in jail. Biscet testified via telephone at a hearing chaired by Smith in 2012. Smith nominated Biscet for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 and again in 2011, when he led an international movement nominating him. Shortly after the nominations were made, Biscet was released. He remains in Cuba today. It was reported he was beaten and detained earlier last year.

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