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1h ago

Assata Shakur Dies in Havana at 78, Cuba Confirms

Cuba had sheltered the convicted Black Liberation Army member since her 1979 escape from a New Jersey prison.

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FILE — Joanne Chesimard, a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, leaves Middlesex County courthouse, in New Brunswick, N.J., April 25, 1977.(AP Photo, File)
FILE - Photo of reward poster announcing the federal bounty for the capture of convicted killer Joanne Chesimard is now $1 Million in West Trenton, N.J. on Monday, May 2, 2005. (AP Photo/Tim Larsen, file)
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Overview

  • Cuba’s foreign ministry said she died in Havana on September 25 from health conditions and advanced age, a timeline her daughter corroborated with an approximate 1:15 p.m. time of death.
  • Shakur was convicted in 1977 for the New Jersey Turnpike shooting that killed Trooper Werner Foerster and wounded another officer in 1973, after a trial her supporters long criticized.
  • She escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility in 1979 and reappeared in Cuba in 1984, where Fidel Castro’s government granted her political asylum.
  • The FBI named her the first woman on its Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013, with federal and New Jersey authorities posting a combined reward up to $2 million as the U.S. pressed for her return.
  • Reaction on Friday reflected her polarizing legacy, with activists citing alleged COINTELPRO targeting and New Jersey officials noting she died without facing further accountability.