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Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), publicly condemned any attempts to honor Joanne Deborah Byron (Joanne Chesimard) - also known as "Assata Shakur" - the American fugitive who passed away last week in Cuba.
The extradition of Joanne Chesimard, who was 77 years old at the time of her death, had been demanded for over four decades from the regime in Havana for the murder of a police officer in the U.S. in 1973.
“Joanne Chesimard did not fight for justice. She cold-bloodedly murdered New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster, and then fled to Cuba to evade her responsibility”, Patel clarified on X.
“The FBI never ceased to call her what she was: a terrorist,” he emphasized.
The high-ranking U.S. official concluded that "to mourn her is like spitting on the badge and the blood of every police officer who gave their life in service”.
The U.S. Embassy in Havana echoed the aforementioned publication on X.
Last Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) reported the death of Joanne Deborah Byron. The brief official statement simply indicated that she passed away on September 25th in Havana “as a result of health issues and her advanced age.”
In 2013, Assata Shakur -former Black Panther- became the first woman to be named on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) most wanted terrorists list, and the reward for her capture was increased to two million dollars.
The crime that made her the most wanted woman by the FBI
Born in 1947, Chesimard became one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party, a political and military organization founded in 1966 and dissolved in 1982 during the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981-1989).
In 1967, she married Louis Chesimard, but after their divorce in 1970, she changed her name to Assata Shakur and joined the aforementioned organization.
On May 2, 1973, Chesimard and two accomplices shot and killed New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster during a routine traffic stop for driving a car with a broken taillight.
Chesimard initiated gunfire against officers James Harper and Werner Foerster, resulting in the deaths of Zayd Shakur (who was with Chesimard) and Agent Foerster.
Foerster's murderer was arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison for the crime.
In March 1977, she was found guilty of eight charges and transferred to prison. However, in November 1979, she escaped from the maximum-security prison in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
She then lived as a fugitive in the United States for several years. In 1984, she managed to return to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum.
In 1998, the United States Congress unanimously demanded the extradition of the woman from Cuba, but to no avail. In 2005, her name was added to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List, with a reward of one million dollars.
For many years, politicians from different parties and civil organizations have asked the Cuban authorities to hand over Chesimard, but the island has always refused to return the fugitive.
Even in 2017, during the second round of Cuba-U.S. discussions on counterterrorism, numerous news agencies reported the possibility that a potential exchange of spies and fugitives could arise. It was mentioned that the U.S. would hand over Ana Belén Montes to Cuba, and in exchange, the island would extradite Joanne Chesimard. However, this did not happen.
In June 2017 -during his first term- President Donald Trump demanded that Cuba “return fugitives of American justice, including the return of the murderer of a police officer, Joanne Chesimard.”
In 2018, the then-Republican senator Marco Rubio and the Democrat Bob Menéndez signed a resolution demanding "immediate extradition" of fugitives from the U.S. in Cuba, including Joanne Chesimard.
In May of 2025, the U.S. government renewed its call for the extradition of Joanne Chesimard.
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