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<div align="center"><font size=3><b>HANDS OFF ASSATA CAMPAIGN<br>
OFFICIAL STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO MAY 2, 2005 ANNOUNCEMENT OF<br>
$1 MILLION BOUNTY OFFER FOR THE RETURN OF ASSATA<br>
SHAKUR AND LISTING HER AS A DOMESTIC TERRORIST<br>
<br>
</b></div>
On May 2<sup>nd</sup> the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New
Jersey Troopers publicly announced a $1 million bounty for the capture of
Assata Shakur. May 2<sup>nd</sup> also marked the 32<sup>nd</sup>
anniversary of the fatal shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that
resulted in the deaths Trooper Werner Foerster and Zayd Shakur, and left
Assata Shakur and Sundiata Acoli wounded. <br>
For years the New Jersey Troopers have held an annual commemoration
ceremony for Trooper Werner Foerster in early May. Each year the local
New Jersey papers print several stories about the events of May 2, 1973
that took place on the New Jersey Turnpike. Periodically various New
Jersey officials have issued different statements sometimes accusing
Assata and at other times accusing her co-defendant, Sundiata Acoli, of
killing Foerster. Sundiata at age 68 continues to languish in
prison 32 years later, having been denied parole repeatedly.<br>
Assata Shakur is a mother and grandmother, author and artist. She is
politically astute and intellectually sharp. She is warm, humble and
spiritual. Years ago, the FBI labeled Assata “the heart and soul of the
Black Liberation Army”. They issued all sorts of defamatory statements
about her. As a result she was hunted like an animal by law enforcement
agencies all over the country, as were many other Black Panther Party and
BLA members. She has been used by the FBI as a symbol in various ways to
further their political objectives.<br>
Convicted of murder for the death of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1977,
Assata has been living in exile in Cuba. She is not convicted for any
other incident or crime. In 1998 the New Jersey Troopers petitioned
Pope John Paul II as he prepared for his historic visit to Cuba and
meeting with President Fidel Castro. They wanted him to pressure
President Castro to return Assata to the United States. The Pope flatly
turned down their request but did advise then President Clinton that the
United States needed to end the senseless and inhumane blockade against
Cuba.<br>
Former New Jersey Governor, Christie Todd Whitman, curried political
favor with the state’s police when she announced a bounty of $25,000 for
Assata and later doubled it to $50,000. She was duly rewarded by
President Bush who appointed her in 2001 to be the head of the
Environmental Protection Agency. The bounty was quietly increased
by the FBI to a million dollars as it crept around the country looking
for relatives, friends and associates to enlist in its scheme to kidnap
Assata and return her to the United States. Time and time again, the FBI
offered them a million dollars for their services. To some, they stated
that there was no limit to how much they would pay for Assata’s
return.<br>
The obsession shared by the New Jersey State Troopers and the FBI for
Assata is highly unusual unless you examine the larger political picture
and international affairs. Since the victorious Cuban Revolution in
1959, the United States has engaged in an ongoing campaign to assassinate
President Castro and overthrow the Cuban government. No fewer than 23
assassination attempts have been documented. Then in 1961 the failed Bay
of Pigs attempt by President John F. Kennedy to invade and overthrow
President Castro brought international embarrassment to the United
States. The Bay of Pigs debacle was one of many government attempts
to bow to the wishes of the powerful Miami based Cuban exile
community. This is the same power base that Florida Governor Jeb
Bush answers to and his brother, George W., is beholden to for the 2000
and 2004 “election” results.<br>
Since the rise to power of Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez in 1998, the
United States has greedily watched as political links developed between
Cuba and Venezuela. What does Venezuela have that the United States
wants? Oil! What does Cuba have that the United States wants? It
occupies a strategic geographic location that would enable the United
States to militarily control the Caribbean. Of course Cuba also has the
tenacity to show the people of the world that there is another way to
exist. It is possible for education and health care to be guaranteed to
every citizen. It is possible for every citizen to have a home and most
importantly, hope for the future. It is a sovereign nation with the
right to grant asylum whenever it sees fit. Equally important is
that the majority of the Cuban population is of African descent.
The significance of this fact is not lost on the other Third World
nations around the globe.<br>
The United States’ CIA has boldly intervened in Venezuelan affairs and
aided in the failed coup there in 2002. Bitter to admit defeat, the
United States continued to look for ways to provoke a confrontation with
President Chavez. They found it in Luis Posada Carriles. In fact,
Posada provides Bush with a two for one shot at Chavez and Castro. For
many years Posada has been a CIA operative. He is wanted in Venezuela for
his role in the 1976 shoot down of a Cuban airliner that killed 73
civilians including the national fencing team. He escaped from prison
there. In 1998 he claimed responsibility for planning attacks on various
Cuban establishments including the 1997 bombing of a tourist hotel that
resulted in the death of an Italian tourist and the wounding of 11
others. In 2000 Posada was arrested in Panama for plotting to murder
President Castro during the Ibero-American summit being held in that
country. He was convicted and sentenced to eight years. In November
2004, the outgoing Panamanian President, Mireya Moscoso, pardoned Posada
allegedly in exchange for $4 million paid by a Cuban American. Money
talked and Posada walked, disappearing from public view for several
months. <br>
In March 2005, he surfaced in Miami. His lawyer, Eduardo Soto, admitted a
few weeks later that Posada was in Miami as he filed his petition for
political asylum. House of Representative William Delahunt (D-Mass)
stated recently, “I can’t imagine how one could defend a terrorist where
there exists overwhelming evidence that he was responsible or a
co-conspirator in blowing up a civilian airliner.” To many the
revelation that Posada is in the country is shocking. But they were
apparently unaware that his co-conspirator, Orlando Bosch, has been
living comfortably in Miami for at least the past two years. The
revelation of Posada’s presence in the United States set off a tidal wave
of international and domestic criticism including accusations of
political hypocrisy. President Castro called on President Bush to return
Posada to Venezuela. Many demanded that the United States not allow
Posada to remain in the country. <br>
But the role of Bosch and Posada as terrorists is indisputable. They
plotted, murdered, bombed innocents and bragged about it. So what could
Bush do? He tried denying that Posada was in the country but Posada’s
lawyer had already said that he was. Things went from the sublime
to the ridiculous. Roger Noriega, the top State Department official for
Western Hemisphere affairs, claimed he didn’t know if Posada was in the
United States. That revelation didn’t impress many people. <br>
Meanwhile President Castro issued a series of statements about Posada’s
presence in the United States and accused Bush of harboring of a
terrorist. His comments grabbed the attention of the local media
and hit a sympathetic nerve. It was impossible to explain Posada’s
presence in the United States after the numerous public statements Bush
had made about terrorists. Perhaps the most memorable of these is “If you
harbor a terrorist, you are a terrorist.” Things were getting very ugly
very fast for Bush.<br>
However, the timing couldn’t have been better since the anniversary of
the New Jersey Turnpike incident was fast approaching. Here was an
opportunity to “save face” and take another stab at Castro. A
miserably transparent attempt to deflect attention from the political
embarrassment of Posada’s presence developed overnight.<br>
In the blink of an eye, Assata was suddenly placed on the domestic
terrorist list. How very convenient. Now Bush could aim a similar
accusation at Castro, harboring a terrorist.<br>
Turning back to Assata and her 1973 chance encounter with Trooper
Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike, it can hardly be labeled a terrorist
act or plot no matter how you characterize the facts. No doubt she and
her companions did not plan on the events of May 2, 1973. They didn’t
plan or provoke any encounter with the police nor did they brag about
Trooper Foerster’s death. <br>
Who defines a terrorist? What actions define a terrorist? Is it a
politically manipulated designation used to further the agendas of the
present administration? While there is certainly no agreed upon
definition of 'terrorism' even the U.S. State Department's
self-serving definition that it involves "premeditated, politically
motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets" rules
out the incident on the NJ Turnpike which was - by all accounts -
initiated by the troopers in a state notoriously known for racial
profiling on the Turnpike.<br>
Assata stands convicted of one criminal act, the murder of Trooper
Foerster. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs
reports that the FBI identified 785 assailants in the killing of law
enforcement officers between 1993 and 2002. Should we expect that
the next political announcement will be that those 785 individuals have
also been placed on the domestic terrorism list? Is murder of a
police officer the criteria? If so, then should we expect the list to
increase by at least 785?<br>
Perhaps, the commission of a heinous act makes one a terrorist. That
would certainly get Bosch and Posada on the list, so it can’t be that.
What about the joint team of FBI agents and Chicago police that murdered
Black Panther leaders, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, in their sleep during
in a pre-dawn raid at their apartment? Will they be named as
terrorists? When now, Reverend, then Mayor, Wilson Goode ordered the
bombing of the MOVE headquarters located at 6221 Osage Avenue in
Philadelphia in 1985 that killed 11 people including 5 children, and
resulted in the destruction of the entire neighborhood, including 62
homes, was that an act of terrorism? Can we expect to see his name added
to the list? Were the New York City Police Officers who shot and killed
the unarmed grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, during an apartment eviction,
terrorists? They murdered her. Maybe the members of New York’s finest
that fired 41 bullets at unarmed immigrant Amadou Diallo will have their
names added to the list of domestic terrorists. Will the names of
the convicted abortion clinic bombers be added to the list? Were the
officers who beat, assaulted and sodomized young Abner Louima terrorists?
What about the soldiers who shot unarmed detainees in Guantanamo?
<br>
In this political era we find the terrorism label abused and manipulated.
It is an outrage that this government would offend the sensitivities of
the American public by labeling Assata as a terrorist. <br>
In 1976 the Senate Select Subcommittee headed by Senator Frank Church of
Utah issued its report on the activities of the FBI’s Counter
Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). That Program was aimed at
destroying any political dissent in the country. Among its targets were
Rev. Martin Luther King, Kwame Ture’ (f.k.a. Stokely Carmichael) Malcolm
X, the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Army, the New Left, the
Weather Underground, the American Indian Movement, the Puerto Rican
independence movement and the Communist Party. Led by J. Edgar
Hoover, the FBI left no stone unturned and no dirty trick untried. Part
of this campaign was to criminalize legitimate political movements and
individuals. The FBI maimed, murdered and imprisoned hundreds of
political activists. The Report concluded that “Many of the techniques
used would be intolerable in a democratic society even if all the targets
had been involved in violent activity, but COINTELPRO went far beyond
that.” The condemnation of the FBI practices temporarily limited
its activities.<br>
However, in 2001 the FBI was able to publicly reinstitute all the
previously condemned COINTELPRO practices under the guise of the Patriot
Act. Increased surveillance of political organizations and individuals
began. Harassment, arrest, incarceration and intimidation of political
activists have once again been restored as “acceptable” police practices.
<br>
This recent labeling of Assata as a terrorist is done as part of the
broader campaign to demonize and criminalize political dissent and
resistance. This agenda was begun by the previous United States
Attorney General, John Ashcroft. All over the country FBI agents started
questioning and harassing past and present political activists. In
courtrooms and filed documents, the FBI and U.S. Attorneys began
referring to domestic political activists as terrorists. The label has
far reaching implications. The First Amendment is in serious danger
and so is anyone who dares to exercise their rights under its
protections.<br>
The convergence of Posada’s entry into the United States and the
otherwise inexplicable labeling of Assata as a terrorist fit well into a
much broader politically motivated scheme. Her name must
immediately be removed from the list and the bounty offer
rescinded.<br><br>
</font>hoa@afrocubaweb.com<br>
5/13/05<br>
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