Political activist Assata Shakur confirmed dead at 78 by Cuban officials

Assata Olugbala Shakur, born JoAnne Deborah Byron died on September 25, 2025, per Cuba’s ministry of foreign affairs.

Political activist Assata Shakur, born Joanne Deborah Byron, and also known as Joanne Chesimard, has died at 78 years old. 

Shakur reportedly died in Havana, Cuba, on Thursday, September 25, 2025, due to health conditions and her age, according to a statement released by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

““On September 25, 2025, U.S. citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, “Assata Shakur”, died in Havana, Cuba, as a result of health ailments and her advanced age,” the statement read on the government’s website.

Shakur, the aunt of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, was a former member of the Black Liberation Army, a Black nationalist militant organization that operated in the U.S. from 1970 to 1981. In 1973, Shakur was convicted for the killing of a NJ state trooper before famously escaping from prison in 1979. The famed political activist had been living in Cuba, where she was granted political asylum in 1984.