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Shakur fled to Cuba by 1984; in that year she was granted political asylum in that country.[172] The Cuban government pays approximately $13 a day toward her living expenses.[174][178] In 1985 she was reunited with her daughter, Kakuya, who had previously been raised by Shakur’s mother in New York.[7] She published Assata: An Autobiography, which was written in Cuba, in 1987. Her autobiography has been cited in relation to critical legal studies[179] and critical race theory.[180] The book does not give a detailed account of the events on the New Jersey Turnpike, except saying that the jury “Convicted a woman with her hands up!”[62] The book was published by Lawrence Hill & Company in the United States and Canada but the copyright is held by Zed Books Ltd. of London due to so-called Son of Sam laws, which restrict who can receive profits from a book.[181] In the six months prior to the publications of the book, Evelyn Williams, Shakur’s aunt and attorney, made several trips to Cuba and served as a go-between with Hill.[182] Shakur’s autobiography is one of only two by a female Black Panther, along with Elaine Brown’s A Taste of Power.[183]

In 1993, she published a second book, Still Strong, Still Black, with Dhoruba bin Wahad and Mumia Abu-Jamal.[6] Shakur’s writings have been widely circulated on the Internet.[184] For example, the largely Internet-based “Hands Off Assata!” campaign is coordinated by Chicago-area Black Radical Congress activists.[185] As early as 1998, Shakur has referred to herself as a “20th century escaped slave”.[186] In the same open letter, Shakur calls Cuba “One of the Largest, Most Resistant and Most Courageous Palenques (Maroon Camps) that has ever existed on the Face of this Planet”.[186] Shakur is also known to have worked as an English-language editor for Radio Havana Cuba.[187]