{"id":17687,"date":"2013-05-05T22:58:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T02:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=17687"},"modified":"2013-05-05T22:58:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T02:58:04","slug":"fbi-adds-65-year-old-black-panther-to-most-wanted-terrorists-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2013\/05\/fbi-adds-65-year-old-black-panther-to-most-wanted-terrorists-list\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI adds 65-year-old Black Panther to Most Wanted Terrorists list"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joanne<\/a>
Joanne Chesimard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced that Joanne Chesimard has been added to its Most Wanted Terrorists list. Thursday’s bulletin gave Chesimard, a black nationalist, the dubious distinction of being the first woman to be placed on the list.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chesimard, better known as Assata Shakur, was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army when, on May 2, 1973, she was driving through New Jersey with two others. The car was pulled over for a broken taillight and a gunfight ensued with police. One officer and one man from Shakur\u2019s group were killed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being injured, she managed to flee from the scene but was eventually arrested and, in 1977, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. But in 1979, The New York Times reported, she \u201cescaped from Clinton Correctional Institute for Women after three male visitors drew handguns, kidnapped two guards and seized a prison minibus in order to drive out of the grounds to two getaway cars. They left the guards handcuffed but unharmed<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been widely speculated that Shakur was aided in her escape by the Black Liberation Army. William Kunstler, her trial lawyer, told reporters at the time that Shakur\u2019s health had declined in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was very happy that she escaped because I thought she was unfairly tried<\/i>,\u201d he said, as quoted by the Gothamist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her surviving accomplice, Sundiata Acoli, born Clark Edward Squire, is still held in a federal prison after being denied parole several times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1984 Shakur was granted asylum by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who called the charges against her \u201can infamous lie<\/i>.\u201d Originally from the Queens section of New York City, Shakur explained her situation on her website.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Assata (\u201cshe who struggles\u201d) Olugbala (\u201cfor the people\u201d) Shakur (\u201cthe thankful one\u201d), and I am a 20th Century escaped slave<\/i>,\u201d she wrote. \u201cBecause of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government\u2019s policy towards people of color. I am an ex political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the US government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She went on to admit involvement with the Black Panther Party and described the FBI\u2019s intention to \u201cdestroy it and its leaders and activists<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Federal and New Jersey law enforcement announced during Thursday\u2019s news conference that they had doubled the reward for information leading to Shakur\u2019s capture from $1 million to $2 million. Along with being the first female named to the list, she is only the second domestic ‘terrorist’ on the list, which was assembled to identify those responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would be na\u00efve to think there\u2019s not some communication between her and some of those people she used to run around with today<\/i>,\u201d said Aaron Ford, the special agent in charge of the FBI\u2019s office in Newark, New Jersey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He did not elaborate on the reasoning behind the seemingly sudden decision to add Shakur, now 65 years old, to the list. New Jersey law enforcement has previously campaigned for her extradition, appealing to Pope John Paul II when he traveled to Cuba in 1998. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

State Police superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes may have shed light on authorities\u2019 reinvigorated motivation to apprehend Shakur, however.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo this day, from her safe haven in Cuba, Shakur has been given a pulpit to preach and profess, stirring supporters and groups to mobilize against the United States by any means necessary<\/i>,\u201d Fuentes said. \u201cWe also have reason to believe that she has established association with other international terrorist organizations<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuentes did not mention what evidence the New Jersey state police had connecting Fuentes to international terror syndicates, but Ford was careful to note that the US \u2013 still struggling to reform its relationship with Cuba \u2013 has little hope the country will comply with American requests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently it\u2019s not good<\/i>,\u201d Ford said during the press event. \u201cWe don\u2019t enjoy a great extradition status with that country<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuente<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced that Joanne Chesimard has been added to its Most Wanted Terrorists list. Thursday’s bulletin gave Chesimard, a black..<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149,166,18,21,185,97],"tags":[320,197,357,350,347],"class_list":["post-17687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discrimination","category-government","category-history","category-international","category-prisons","category-us-news","tag-cuba","tag-imperialism","tag-racism","tag-united-states-history","tag-workers-struggle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenix.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/black-panther-most-wanted-terrorist-list-si.jpg?fit=690%2C388&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}