Assata Shakur went to Cuba because she was granted political asylum there in 1984 after escaping from a U.S. prison where she was serving a life sentence for the killing of a police officer—a charge she and her supporters always denied. Cuba offered her refuge as a political exile, protecting her from U.S. law enforcement and the FBI, who had a $2 million bounty on her head. Fidel Castro’s government viewed her as a political refugee rather than a criminal, which aligned with Cuba's stance during the Cold War of granting asylum to American fugitives who were considered political activists or opponents of U.S. policies.
Shakur herself described Cuba as a revolutionary refuge and praised Castro as a hero of the oppressed. She lived there for decades, continuing her activism and writing about her experiences, framing her flight to Cuba as an escape from political repression, racism, and violence in the United States.
