US Militant Assata Shakur, Wanted by FBI, Dies in Cuba at 78
Cuba has announced the death of Assata Shakur, a US citizen and former Black Liberation Army member who lived in exile on the island for decades after being convicted of killing a police officer in New Jersey. The Cuban foreign ministry confirmed that Shakur — born Joanne Deborah Byron and also known as JoAnne Chesimard — died in Havana on September 25, 2025, at the age of 78, citing health problems and old age. Shakur, a prominent figure in the Black nationalist movement of the 1970s, was accused alongside two others of fatally shooting New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster during a traffic stop in 1973. She was convicted of murder in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison, but maintained her innocence, insisting she never held a gun and was surrendering when shots were fired. In 1979, Shakur escaped […]