Filiberto Ojeda Ríos
Puerto Rican political activist
Died when: 72 years 150 days (868 months)Star Sign: Taurus
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (April 26, 1933 – September 23, 2005) was a Puerto Rican independence activist and militant 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.
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".
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