Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

Ojeda Ríos was born on April 26, 1933, in the barrio of Río Blanco in Naguabo, Puerto Rico to Inocencio Ojeda. Ojeda Ríos entered college when he was fifteen years old and was described as having an "engaging intelligence". As a child, he played the trumpet and guitar. He joined La Sonora Ponceña, a salsa band from Ponce, Puerto Rico where he performed both instruments. == Militant activities ==

In the 1960s, he founded the Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement, aka MIRA (Movimiento Independentista Revolucionario Armado). The group was involved in the killing of a Puerto Rican policeman who refused to surrender his car. The group was responsible for nearly 120 bombings in the United States between 1974 and 1983, including the 1975 bombing of the Fraunces Tavern in which four civilians were killed. He was released on bond after his attorneys successfully argued he had been denied a speedy trial, although the delay in bringing him to trial was largely the result of defense motions. On September 23, 1990, the anniversary of the Grito de Lares, Ojeda Ríos cut off the electronic tag that had been placed on his ankle as a condition of his release, and became a fugitive. In July 1992, Ojeda Ríos was sentenced in absentia to 55 years in prison and fined $600,000 for his role in the Wells Fargo heist. ==Death==

's report stated that an FBI agent detonated a non-lethal "flash bang" grenade outside the house as a diversionary tactic when the FBI approached the house, before any gunfire began, and that Rosado may have thought this explosion was gunfire initiated by the FBI. The Office of the Inspector General report concluded that "although the FBI utilized a negotiator from its San Juan office during the standoff, the FBI did not comply with its own policies regarding the integration of negotiators into operations planning or the use of multiple negotiators." == Aftermath ==

protesters of Ojeda Ríos' death in 2005 The report by the Puerto Rico Commission on Civil Rights states that Rodríguez Morales, one of the two forensic pathologists that performed the autopsy, declared that "as a pathologist she cannot 'say at what precise time' Ojeda Ríos died, what can be given is an estimate of the number of hours that he had been dead." She added she did not believe that a person of 72 years, who had had open heart surgery, could have survived an hour. The FBI was criticized for failing to notify Commonwealth of Puerto Rico officials in advance of the Ojeda Ríos arrest operation by the Commission on Civil Rights, but the OIG report "determined that the FBI made the decision not to notify Puerto Rico officials of the operation because of concerns about leaks that could compromise the operation, which was a reasonable consideration under the circumstances." The report found that the "FBI missed opportunities to provide accurate information to the public and to Commonwealth officials regarding the reasons for the delay in entering Ojeda's residence" Politicians across party lines in Puerto Rico criticized the handling of the event. Sitting governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá criticized the FBI assault as "improper" and "highly irregular" and demanded to know why his government was not informed beforehand. The FBI refused to release information beyond the official press release, citing security and agent privacy issues. Three Puerto Rican members of the U.S. Congress demanded the release of more specific, and more responsive, FBI information. Amnesty International demanded an independent investigation into the possibility of "extra-judicial execution" in the case. A United Nations General Assembly Special Committee resolution labeled the killing an "assassination". The Puerto Rico Department of Justice filed suit in federal court against the FBI and the US Attorney General, demanding information crucial to the Commonwealth's own investigation of the incident. In late March 2006, the Department sued federal authorities, including Mueller and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, seeking an injunction to force the federal government authorities to provide the Commonwealth government with information related to the operation in which Ojeda Ríos died, as well as another one in which the FBI searched the homes of independence supporters affiliated with Los Macheteros. A U.S. District Court judge ruled against the Puerto Rico Department of Justice. The case was subsequently appealed to a federal appeals court which ruled that "disclosing information on the Ojeda raid 'would reveal how the FBI goes about capturing a fugitive who is believed to be dangerous.'" The Commonwealth Government then took the case to the United States Supreme Court but "the Supreme Court...refused to consider [the] lawsuit by Puerto Rico seeking FBI files in the killing of Puerto Rican independence supporter Filiberto Ojeda Rios." 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 Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice. 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. In clearing the FBI, the report found that Ojeda Ríos "clearly posed a threat to the agents" and was shot only after refusing to surrender when he was seen aiming a pistol at an agent. ==In popular culture==

The hip hop musical group Calle 13 wrote the song "Querido FBI" ("Dear FBI"), to protest the manner of Ojeda Ríos' death at the hands of the FBI. Singer-songwriter Mikie Rivera has composed two songs inspired by Ojeda Ríos: "HF" and "Piedra y bala". In April 2018, a feature-length biographic documentary entitled Filiberto was made about him, directed by Freddie Marrero Alfonso. == See also ==