Free Republic

Cuban officials on Friday said that Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper, has died in Havana decades after breaking out of prison and escaping to the communist island. Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Chesimard, who was born JoAnne Deborah Byron and was also known as Assata Olugbala Shakur, passed away after living there for years under asylum granted by the Cuban government. "On September 25, 2025, American citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, ‘Assata Shakur,’ passed away in Havana, Cuba, due to health conditions and advanced age," the ministry's statement said. In 1977, Chesimard...

At least 60 faculty and staff members at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have signed a petition demanding that the Catholic college keep a mural of a cop killer and an FBI designated terrorist on a wall in the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. Assata Shakur is the aunt of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur, who was the victim of a 1996 drive-by shooting Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard, is a former Black Panther and member of the Black Liberation Army. She escaped a U.S. prison and fled to Cuba after shooting and killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner...