- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2165
Graphic: dignidadrebelde – flickr.com (CC BY 2.0)
Assata Shakur (born Joanne Deborah Chesimard) died in Havana, Cuba on 25 September. Cuba regarded her as a political refugee and a victim of racial and political persecution in the United States. The Cuban government consistently refused US requests for her extradition, describing Shakur as a “freedom fighter” and “revolutionary” who was unjustly prosecuted for her political beliefs and activism.
Shakur, a Black Power activist was the first woman to be placed on the FBI’s “most wanted terrorists” list after escaping to Cuba from a New Jersey prison, where she was serving a life sentence for the killing of a state trooper. She maintained her innocence, testifying her hands were in the air when she was shot. Doctors testified Shakur’s bullet wounds were consistent with her hands being raised.
The Cuban newspapers Granma and Juventud Rebelde portrayed Shakur as a victim of systemic racism, police brutality, and political repression in the US during the Black liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. Cuban officials argued that granting her asylum was consistent with Cuba’s policy of protecting people persecuted for fighting racism and injustice, aligning her with other political exiles and revolutionaries sheltered in Cuba.
Cuba considers Shakur a part of the global struggle against colonialism, racism, and US imperialism. Shakur has been cited in Cuban academic and cultural discussions about the US civil rights movement and the Black Panther Party. Shakur’s story is an example of US oppression of Black activists, with claims of torture in custody, and systemic bias in the US justice system.
Since the 1980s, the US has repeatedly demanded Shakur’s extradition, and offered a US$2 million reward. The FBI placed her on its Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013. Havana has consistently refused extradition, citing the political nature of her case and the principle of non-extradition for political crimes under Cuban and international law. During the 2014 - 2016 normalisation talks under President Obama, US officials raised Shakur’s case, but Cuban negotiators said it was “not on the table.”
This refusal to extradite Assata Shakur has been one excuse for the US to keep Cuba on the list of supporters of international terrorism. Shakur is remembered by Cubans as a link between the US civil rights movement and global anti-imperialist struggles.
