American fugitive tied to Cuba terror list dies but her impact lives on | Opinion

She led a life overshadowed by violence — convicted of killing a state trooper, breaking out of prison and fleeing to Cuba 42 years ago, where she became a thorn in U.S.-Cuba relations. Her death recently raises a question: Will it change anything?

The death at 78 of Black Liberation Army icon — or American terrorist — Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, was announced two weeks ago by Cuban officials. Her passing barely made news in the United States, though she was one of the most infamous fugitives in modern American history.

Chesimard, who had left the Black Panthers for the more radical Black Liberation Army, was convicted in 1977 of the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, who had stopped Chesimard and two others for a traffic violation.

At the time, Chesimard was wanted for several felonies, including bank robbery. In the shootout that followed, one officer was wounded, and Foerster, 34, was killed, the FBI said. Chesimard fled but was later captured. She was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, in 1979, Chesimard broke out of prison with the help of other Black Liberation members and went underground. She somehow ended up in Cuba in 1984, where Fidel Castro welcomed her and granted her political asylum.

For Miami’s Cuban exile community, the case of Chesimard was always an affront and the height of hypocrisy by the regime they fled. Cuba was granting political aylum to a convicted U.S.cop-killer, yet many Cubans who opposed the Castro regime had endured persecution or imprisonment for opposing the dictatorship.

Despite her decades of hiding in Cuba, U.S. law enforcement and relatives of her victims never stopped demanding justice. As recently as last year, the New Jersey Legislature passed a resolution asking for Chesimard’s extradition from Cuba. The FBI made Chesimard the first woman listed on its Most Wanted Terrorists list and offered a $1 million reward for her capture.

For Cuba, offering Chesimard safe harbor was one of the clearest examples of the island aligning itself with what it described as revolutionary forces struggling against an oppressive U.S. capitalist empire.

Her presence on the island undoubtedly embittered U.S.-Cuba relations for decades. Cuba was first placed on the U.S. State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in 1982, during the Reagan administration, for supporting revolutionary movements in Latin America.

In 2015, the Obama administration removed Cuba from the list as part of failed efforts to normalize relations between the two countries. But by 2021, Cuba was redesignated by the Trump administration, days before ending his first term. Trump cited Havana’s harboring of Chesimard and others, along with its support for Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro regime.

And last year, when Cuban American Secretary of State Marco Rubio reignited the issue by again blacklisting Cuba for failing to cooperate with U.S. counterterrorism efforts, he specifically cited Cuba’s refusal to discuss the return of fugitives, specifically Chesimard.

Cuba always stood firm in its protection of Chesimard, regardless of diplomatic cost. That decision rightfully fueled U.S. claims that Havana supported terrorism and undermined efforts at normalization, justifying keeping the island on list of countries that are sponsors of terrorism, a decision exiles in Miami have long supported.

Chesimard’s death may close a chapter, but it doesn’t end her impact on U.S.-Cuba relations. For U.S. officials, her life proved that Cuba could not be trusted to stand against terrorists. And as Rubio’s latest actions show, the ghosts of the past still guide U.S.-Cuba policy.

As long as Havana continues to shelter American fugitives Chesimard’s shadow will linger — even in death.

Luisa Yanez is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board.