The unthinkable happened yesterday, President Obama released the freeze on USA relations with Cuba. After 53 years of the cold shoulder, POTUS made an announcement that shocked the country and Cuban world.

“Neither the American nor the Cuban people are well-served by a rigid policy that’s rooted in events that took place before most of us were born,” Obama said Wednesday in his White House speech. “It’s time for a new approach.”

Cuba released Alan Gross, a USAID worker imprisioned on espionage charges, and 53 other political prisoners for a thawing of the relationship and the remain three members of the “Cuban Five”. The relationship seems to be underway, despite the shock of the rest of the country, but it has led to a very interesting question.

What about Assata Shakur?

Assata Shakur is a revolutionary, maybe more in mind than spirit these days. She is 67 years old and has been living in Cuba for over 4 decades now. She was a member of the Black Panther Pary and Black Liberation Army in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when things happened.

In 1973 during a traffic stop in New Jersey, Shakur (whose real name is JoAnne Chesimard), was involved in a shootout with police. When the smoke cleared, Shakur was injured with multiple gun shot wounds, her driver, Zayd Shakur, dead, and a State trooper dead. In 1977, Assata Shakur was charged with the murder of the officer and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1979, she escaped to Cuba where Fidel Castro gave her asylum to live out her days in the island nation.

There have been many attempts to diplomatically recover Assata Shakur from Cuba. In 1998, even Pope John Paul II made an attempt on the part of the United States to retrieve her during a rare visit to Cuba, but was rejected. In 2013, Shakur was added to the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list, the first woman added to the list.

Did Obama Reopen The Hunt for Assata?

We don’t know if going after Assata Shakur was part of Obama’s end game, but it sure is part of the New Jersey State authorities agenda. They released a statement saying they hope the new relations between the USA and Cuba will aid the capture and return of Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur.

“We view any changes in relations with Cuba as an opportunity to bring her back to the United States to finish her sentence for the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973,” State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said in a statement.

What do you think? Should the USA go after Assata or leave her alone?