Was Assata Shakur rapper Tupac Shakur's mother? First woman on the FBI's 'terrorist’ list dies at 78
Assata Shakur, Tupac Shakur's godmother, died in Cuba at 78.
Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army who lived as a fugitive in Cuba for decades, drawing the ire of successive US administrations, has died on the communist-run island at age 78.
Shakur fled to Havana after breaking out of of a New Jersey prison in 1979, where she was serving a life sentence for the 1973 killing of a police officer. She lived underground for a few years before surfacing on the island in 1984, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In a brief statement, Cuba’s foreign ministry said she died due to “health complications and her advanced age.”
Born JoAnne Chesimard, Shakur became the first woman to be on the FBI’s most wanted list and was often cited in the US as an example of Cuba’s willingness to harbor bad actors. In May, the State Department said there were at least 11 US fugitives living in Cuba.
When President Donald Trump put Cuba on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list in his first term, his top diplomat cited Shakur’s presence on the island as one of the reasons. While Joe Biden took the country off that list before he left office, the decision was reversed days later by the incoming administration.
Shakur, who worked as a writer and educator in Cuba, was also godmother to late rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in 1996.
