Assata Shakur, fugitive from FBI and Tupac’s godmother, dies in Cuba

Havana CNN Assata Shakur the Black Liberation Army member and fugitive with a million FBI reward on her head died in Havana where she had received political asylum from Fidel Castro the Cuban Foreign Ministry informed Friday According to the short announcement Shakur who was also known as Joanne Chesimard died Thursday from wellness ailments and her advanced age Shakur who was also the godmother and step-aunt of slain rapper Tupac Shakur was years old An outspoken proponent of armed revolution in the United States Shakur was convicted for her role in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that killed a state trooper Shakur was herself wounded in the exchange of gunfire and claimed that the FBI had targeted her for assassination as part of a widespread campaign against black militant organizations in the s and s While serving a life sentence for the murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster Shakur escaped prison in New Jersey in and began her life on the run She resurfaced in in Cuba where then Cuban leader Fidel Castro awarded her political asylum While living in Cuba Shakur wrote books appeared in a documentary and mocked US efforts to force her extradition In the FBI made Shakur the first woman on its majority wished terrorists list and with the state of New Jersey Attorney increased the reward for her capture to million Her asylum on the communist-run island among a handful of other US fugitives from justice provided fodder for anti-Castro activists who argued that Cuba should be remain on the US State Department list of countries that sponsor state terrorism