Press Advisory
An American, whose father was killed by a terrorist group affiliated with the Cuban dictatorship, speaks before the U.S. Congress asks them to “keep Cuba, the human rights violator, on the State Sponsor of Terror List.”
Video of the testimony of Joseph Connor, son of Frank Connor, murdered in a terrorist attack orchestrated by the Cuban regime, given before the United States Congress on December 11, 2024: Author and advocate Joseph Connor testifies before Congress on Cuba’s role in terror attack in NYC – YouTube
Contacts: John Suarez (612) 367-6845/ Janisset Rivero (786) 208-6056
Center for a Free Cuba, December 20, 2024, Washington, DC. In testimony before the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Health, Human Rights, and International Organizations of the United States House of Representatives on December 11, 2024, Joseph Connor, son of Frank Connor, murdered along with two other Americans in a terrorist attack in New York City, denounces that his father’s murderer is harbored by the dictatorship in Cuba, and presents evidence of terrorist actions sponsored by Havana, which recruits, trains, and protects individuals and organizations that have claimed the lives of innocent people like his father.
“Our father, 33-year-old Frank Connor, and three other innocent men, Alex Berger, Jim Gezork and Harold Sherbourne were murdered, while scores were injured and maimed, on January 24, 1975, (50 years ago next month) when the Marxist, Cuban fueled, Puerto Rican terrorist group Armed Forces for National Liberation (“FALN”) blew up New York’s historic Fraunces Tavern during a crowded lunchtime. The FALN appointed themselves my father’s judge, jury, and executioner, profiling, targeting, and savagely murdering “reactionary corporate executives” as they put in their Communique #3, dated that day. The Connor family had planned to celebrate my 9th and my brother’s 11th birthday that very night,” affirmed Joseph Connor in his testimony.
William Morales, one of the persons responsible for that terrorist attack and others, was eventually captured, tried, and sentenced to 99 years in prison in 1979. However, he soon escaped from Bellevue Prison Hospital, assisted by other terrorists. In 1983, Morales was captured and tried in Mexico for other terrorist acts, but in 1988, the Mexican government ignored the Reagan administration’s extradition request and allowed Morales to take refuge in Cuba, where he remains to this day.
Joseph Connor, author of the book “Shattered Lives,” written with Jeff Ingber, presented in his testimony before Congress some details that demonstrate the Cuban dictatorship’s links, coordination and involvement with terrorist groups, specifically with the Puerto Rican terrorist group Fuerzas Armadas para la Liberación Nacional (FALN).
“ Despite my efforts and Cuba’s sponsoring of terrorists, the Obama administration removed Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terror list. On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced the establishment of formal relations with Cuba before actually visiting the Marxist state in March 2016. As Obama announced his Cuba visit, I immediately began receiving calls, texts, and emails from reporters who knew our family’s long standing fight for justice. […] Our family has fought for Morales’s extradition to the U.S. for decades; to hold Cuba responsible for their role in our father’s death and in protecting members of the terrorist group who murdered him. In 2024, following lobbying by our family, the Frank Connor / Trooper Werner Foerster Justice Act, was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio, co-sponsored by Senator Rick Scott. The Walter Patterson and Werner Foerster Justice and Extradition Act was introduced in the House of Representatives in 2023. […] “The Connor and Patterson Acts, both call out Cuba for stomping on Americans’ human rights, for supporting and sponsoring terrorists. They demand the return of Morales, Chesimard, Gerena and others to face justice and to keep Cuba, the human rights violator, on the State Sponsor of Terror List. We call for President Biden and President Elect Trump to secure the return of Morales and the other terrorists and guarantee Cuba ends its systemic human rights violations so Frank Connor’s life will be remembered for Justice,” he concluded.
THE FULL TEXT OF HIS STATEMENT IS INCLUDED IN THIS LINK FROM THE CENTER FOR A FREE CUBA:
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