IndyMedia.org – 2005-09-27 01:37:26
http://hm.indymedia.org/newswire/display/11142/index.php
Yesterday, September 23rd, in the afternoon as the pro-independence movement of Puerto Rico commemorated the 137th anniversary of the insurgency of Lares FBI agents surrounded the residency of the leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios.
The FBI surrounded his home just as the last acts in Lares were finishing. Gunshots were reported, but the FBI kept the perimeter “secured”, and did not allow access to any of the agencies of the Puerto Rican government.
The press has not been allowed access to the area. No video cameras have been permitted around the perimeter. Beatriz Rosado, Filiberto’s wife, was reportedly wounded and under FBI agents custody. Amidst all the misinformation and confusion no one knows the whereabouts of Beatriz Rosado.
The little information that civilians and press have been given is that the leader of the Macheteros and others accompanying him resisted the attack.
The Macheteros are a clandestine independence, nationalist movement of Puerto Rico. Filiberto Ojeda was brutally assassinated at 72 years old. The impact this has had on the Puerto Rican civil society has been great.
The fact that the FBI premeditatedly chose the date of September 23rd to carry out this operation is very meaningful. On this day, we commemorate the attempt to gain independence from Spain in 1868, the insurgency of Lares.
Also it was 15 years ago on the 23rd of September that Filiberto Ojeda Rios went into clandestine life. He had for 15 years fooled and eluded the federal agencies of the United States government.
Filiberto Ojeda Rios was charged for the $7.2 million robbery of a Wells Fargo truck in Connecticut in 1985. This money was used to finance the independence movement of Puerto Rico, and for charity in poor Latin communities in the US.
According to the information we have at this moment, 125 orders of arrest have been issued for activists across Puerto Rico. This brutal murder and the ambiguous circumstances surrounding it contribute to the dilemma of Puerto Rico being a US colony.
The local authorities have not been given any information and have not been allowed access to the crime scene. The impotence of the Puerto Rican government before the US federal agents is a reminder of our subjugated political position.
Manifestations and protests have been going on since yesterday at 4:00 pm and continue tonight. Manifestations around the area where the crime took place are now moving to the metropolitan area to receive the body of our national hero.
Demonstrations in solidarity with Beatriz Rosado who is under federal agents’ custody will also be going on in front of the federal prison. We call upon the international community to condemn the repression against the Puerto Rican independence movement and this vile assassination.
This crime committed by the state will not go unnoticed, the struggle continues. Todo Boricua Machetero!!!
Subsequent reports from eyewitnesses claim that FBI agents stormed the house, breaking down a gate, and fired the first shots. Shell casings left at the scene indicate that the FBI fired more than 100 rounds into the home while Filiberto Ojeda only fired ten rounds in return.
It was reported that none of these shots killed Filiberto Ojeda. He was reportedly killed by a shot to the neck fired by a sniper.
After the shooting ended, the FBI reportedly sealed the house off for nearly 12 hours, not allowing anyone to enter or leave. Filiberto Ojeda was left inside the house wounded and left to bleed to death.
His wife was wounded by bullet fire but reportedly was preparing to leave the hospital where she was treated and was expected to hold a press conference.
