Havana (EFE).- Assata Shakur, born Joanne Deborah Byron, a former Black Panther convicted of killing a US police officer in the 1970s and a political refugee in Cuba for four decades, has died at 78, the Cuban government confirmed Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Foreign Ministry said Shakur died \u201cas a consequence of health problems and her advanced age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born on July 16, 1947, Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, was a central figure in African American liberation movements and a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On May 2, 1973, she was arrested following the shooting death of a state trooper in New Jersey and charged with multiple crimes, including the murder of the officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was convicted in 1977 of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper, after a controversial trial, and sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two years later she escaped from a maximum-security facility and in 1984 surfaced in Cuba, where Fidel Castro\u2019s government granted her political asylum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her case became a long-running source of tension between Washington and Havana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US administrations repeatedly demanded her extradition, including during the Obama-era rapprochement, but Cuba refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2005, the FBI placed her on its most-wanted terrorists list and offered a $1 million reward for her capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently posted on X about how \u201cthe Cuban regime continues to provide safe haven for terrorists and criminals, including fugitives from the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe owe the victims and the American people our unwavering commitment to holding the Cuban regime accountable.\u201d He was referring to the Shakur case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living quietly in Havana, Shakur avoided the public eye, speaking out only in her 1988 memoir Assata: An Autobiography. EFE <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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