Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (April 26, 1933   September 23, 2005) was a Puerto Rican independence activist who cofounded the Boricua Popular Army, also known as Los Macheteros, and its predecessor, the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña (FALN). In 1990, Ojeda Ríos became a fugitive of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), wanted for his role in the 1983 Águila Blanca heist as well as a bail bond default on September 23 of that year. On September 23, 2005, he was killed during an exchange of gunfire with FBI agents after they surrounded the house in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.

Filiberto Ojeda Ríos
Born(1933-04-26)April 26, 1933
Río Blanco, Naguabo, Puerto Rico
DiedSeptember 23, 2005(2005-09-23) (aged 72)
Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
Cause of deathShot by the FBI
NationalityPuerto Rican
Occupation(s)Independence activist and militant
Organization(s)Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña
Boricua Popular Army
MovementIndependence movement in Puerto Rico Communism

The FBI operation in Hormigueros was questioned by local Puerto Rican authorities as well as international organizations. The killing of Ojeda Ríos resonated throughout the Puerto Rican community around the world. In response to questions raised in media accounts and by public officials in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, FBI director Robert Mueller requested an investigation by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. The resulting report concluded that "the FBI agents’ use of force in the Ojeda operation did not violate the Department of Justice Deadly Force Policy" and that Ojeda Ríos had initiated the exchange of gunfire. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission subsequently conducted its own investigation of the incident and issued a report on 22 September 2011 wherein the Commission called Ojeda Ríos's death an "illegal killing".

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.