Assata Shakur, Iconic US Fugitive and Black Liberation Activist, Dies in Cuba

Assata Shakur, the prominent Black liberation activist who has been a fugitive from U.S. justice since her 1979 escape from prison, has died in Cuba. Her daughter and the Cuban government confirmed her passing. Shakur, 78, died Thursday in Havana due to “health conditions and advanced age,” according to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Born Joanne Deborah Chesimard, Shakur was serving a life sentence for the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster when she was dramatically broken out of Clinton Correctional Facility by members of the Black Liberation Army. She resurfaced in Cuba in 1984, where Fidel Castro granted her political asylum, becoming a symbol of both revolutionary resistance and law enforcement’s unfulfilled pursuit.

For decades, U.S. authorities, including former President Donald Trump, consistently demanded her extradition, listing her on the FBI’s “most wanted terrorists” list. However, Shakur and her supporters maintained her innocence, arguing she was a political prisoner unjustly targeted.

News of her death immediately reignited debates over her legacy. New Jersey officials, including Governor Phil Murphy and Assemblyman Michael Inganamort, lamented that “justice was never served” for Trooper Foerster and stated they would “vigorously oppose” any attempts to repatriate her remains. In contrast, groups like Black Lives Matter Grassroots Inc. vowed to “fight in her honor and memory,” reaffirming her status as an enduring icon of racial justice and resistance.

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