Black Liberation Activist Assata Shakur Dies in Cuba

Assata Shakur

Political activist Assata Shakur passed away in Havana on Thursday, Cuban authorities confirmed. 

Assata was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. In 1977 she was convicted by an all-white jury of the murder of a state trooper in New Jersey. 

She consistently maintained her innocence and said she was the target of politically motivated persecution. She escaped prison in 1979 and was eventually granted political asylum in Cuba, where she lived since.

Her asylum in Cuba – and that of other U.S. activists – has been repeatedly used by the U.S. government to justify Cuba’s inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. She had been labeled a “terrorist” by the F.B.I. even though she was never accused of an act of terrorism.