On June 2, 1983, the Cuban government officially granted political asylum to Assata Shakur, the revolutionary Black Panther and former member of the Black Liberation Army. Having escaped from a U.S. prison in 1979, Shakur had been living underground before resurfacing in Havana. Cuba\’s decision to shelter her strained U.S.-Cuba relations but symbolized global solidarity with revolutionary Black movements. Assata became a transnational figure of resistance, inspiring debates around political prisoners, state violence, and liberation. Her asylum emphasized how the African diaspora’s struggle for freedom often transcended national borders and entered global human rights discourse.
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