FBI Killing of (Puerto Rican) Nationalist Draws Ire

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FBI Killing of Nationalist Draws Ire

Thursday September 29, 2005 12:46 AM

By STEVENSON JACOBS

Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The killing of a fugitive Puerto Rican nationalist in a shootout with the FBI has sparked ``rancor and rage'' and prompted an increase in security at police stations and federal buildings, the island's police chief said Wednesday.

It's too early to know if the slaying of Filiberto Ojeda Rios will spark a resurgence of pro-independence violence seen in the U.S. territory between the 1970s and 1990s, but officials said they're taking no chances.

``You always take precautions when there are threats, but until now we haven't received any specific information about planned acts of violence,'' Puerto Rico police chief Pedro Toledo said.

Thousands of mourners, many waving Puerto Rican flags and singing revolutionary ballads, turned out Tuesday for Ojeda Rios' funeral, four days after he was shot to death by FBI agents who came to arrest him at his farmhouse in southwestern Puerto Rico for the 1983 armed robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in Connecticut.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5309233,00.html

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1. More on this story here

U.S. Assassinates Puerto Rican Independence Figure

By Bill Van Auken

09/27/05 "WSW" -- -- The fatal September 23 shooting of Puerto Rican nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios represents an act of state terror and cold-blooded murder by the US government. It is one more proof that in the name of a “global war on terrorism,” Washington has arrogated to itself the right to conduct political assassinations and act as judge, jury and executioner against opponents of US policies and interests.

Aged 72, Ojeda Rios was the leader of the Boricua Popular Army, also known as the Macheteros, a group that advocated independence for Puerto Rico. He was wanted on charges that he had participated in the planning of a 1983 Wells Fargo armored car robbery in Hartford, Connecticut, in which $7.1 million was taken. A fugitive for 15 years since fleeing house arrest in 1990, he was sentenced in absentia to 55 years in jail.

Ojeda Rios was alone with his wife in their home in the rural southwestern Puerto Rican municipality of Hormigueros, near the city of Mayagüez, when scores of FBI agents stormed his property, unleashing a rain of bullets. According to reports, at least 100 armed agents were involved, backed by helicopters and a squad of military sharpshooters brought to the island from Virginia.

The nationalist leader was struck by a single bullet from a sharpshooter’s high-powered rifle. While he suffered no wound to any vital organ, he was left to bleed to death on the floor of his home as FBI agents refused to allow Puerto Rican authorities and emergency medical teams anywhere near the house, maintaining a militarized perimeter for 24 hours.


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10405.htm

[saigon68]

5. DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

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2. FBI killing of nationalist draws ire

<snip> Thousands of mourners, many waving Puerto Rican flags and singing revolutionary ballads, turned out Tuesday for Ojeda Rios' funeral, four days after he was shot to death by FBI agents who came to arrest him at his farmhouse in southwestern Puerto Rico for the 1983 armed robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in Connecticut.

The militant nationalist group led by Ojeda Rios, the Macheteros, or Cane Cutters, vowed to avenge the slain leader's death in a statement read to mourners by the funeral's master of ceremonies.

"Yankees murderers, your days are numbered! ... The fight will continue now and until the Yankees leave our soil," read the letter, which was signed by a Commander Guasabara "from somewhere on the island."

The FBI said they shot the 72-year-old after he opened fire on agents, but later announced an independent probe into the shooting after local officials questioned the bureau's handling of the incident and Ojeda Rios' widow, who escaped from the farmhouse unharmed, said the FBI fired first. <snip>

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-6/1127951044207480.xml&storylist=international

[SpiralHawk]

3. BushCo & Minions - Spreading Planetary Joy Where Ere They Go

Diplomacy and tact are not hallmarks of this misadministration

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4. just heard more on this on Democracy Now!

Go there to learn more. It was murder of the Puerto Rican nationalist by the colonizer. Shootout is a false description of what happened.