From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries
https://www.foxnews.com/us/convicted-cop-killer-assata-shakur-an-fbi-most-wanted-terrorist-dead-cuba-communist-regime-says
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 was convicted of the murder of State Trooper
Werner Foerster, who left behind a wife and 3-year-old son,
during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973.
In 1977, she was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed
robbery, and other crimes and was sentenced to life in prison.
She escaped from prison in 1979 and lived underground before
surfacing in Cuba in 1984.
The FBI and the New Jersey attorney general each offered a $1
million reward for her capture.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey State Police
Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan said they spoke with
Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Chesimard's reported
passing.
"For years, we have worked with the State Department to bring
Chesimard back to New Jersey, so she could face justice for
the cold-blooded murder of an American hero," both said in a
joint statement. "Sadly, it appears she has passed without
being held fully accountable for her heinous crimes."
"We mourn Trooper Foerster's loss every day, and we extend our
deepest sympathies to his widow, Rosie, their son, Eric, and
the entire New Jersey State Police family," they added. "Unlike
his killer, Trooper Foerster never had a chance to live out
his days in peace. But we remain fully committed to honoring
his memory and sacrifice. We will vigorously oppose any attempt
to repatriate Chesimard's remains to the United States."
Chesimard, who regarded herself as a godmother and step-aunt
to late rapper Tupac Shakur, was added to the FBI's Most Wanted
Terrorists List in 2013.
She was a member of the Black Liberation Army, which the FBI
describes as "one of the most violent militant organizations
of the 1970s."
On May 2, 2019, the 46th anniversary of Foerster's slaying,
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal called Chesimard "a
domestic terrorist and nothing more."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI and State Department
for comment.
Black Lives Matter previously used Chesimard's case to illustrate
what the group called Cuba's "solidarity with oppressed peoples
of African descent." In 2021, the Black Lives Matter Global
Network Foundation, Inc., blamed the U.S. embargo for Cuba's
economic devastation while at the same time praising the Cuban
regime for its effort to protect "Black revolutionaries like
Assata Shakur."
Rubio has heavily criticized the Cuban regime for its refusal
to hand over Chesimard to U.S. authorities.
"The Cuban regime continues to provide a safe haven for terrorists
and criminals, including fugitives from the United States," he
said in a statement in May to Fox News.
A State Department spokesperson said the Cuban government
informed the U.S. Embassy in Havana about Chesimard's death.
"On behalf of her victims, we regret that the Cuban dictatorship
for decades protected this fugitive and prevented her from
facing justice in our nation," the spokesperson told Fox News
Digital. "We call on the regime to return other fugitives so
they can face justice once and for all."
During his first term, President Donald Trump called on Cuba
to cough up Chesimard and other American fugitives living on
the island.
"Return the fugitives from American justice, including the
return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard," Trump declared in
2017. Now the Trump administration is taking tougher measures
against Cuba that could eventually result in the fugitives
being back on U.S. soil. In January, the administration slapped
new sanctions on the Cuban regime, and it is considering tougher
actions.
--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2