Ojeda was killed in cold blood!
FBI murders Puerto Rican independence figure
By Bill Van Auken
27 September 2005
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.
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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.
Later, an FBI spokesman claimed that the agents who had surrounded the house and shot Ojeda Rios feared that the house could be wired with explosives and were waiting for reinforcements to fly in from the US.
Testimony from his wife and a neighbor, as well as the results of an autopsy, exposed as lies the FBI’s version of events. US authorities had claimed that federal agents had come to arrest Ojeda Rios, opening fire only after he had fired on them.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/puer-s27.shtmlThe FBI Murder of Filiberto Ojeda RíosThe U.S. government has a long history of executing militant and revolutionary leaders of the people. The Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was assassinated in his bed. Malcolm X was shot after delivering a speech.
Leaders and fighters of the Puerto Rican independence movement have been coldly targeted by the government. Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, the founder of the modern Puerto Rican independence movement, was imprisoned by the U.S. during the 1950s. While in custody, he was deliberately exposed to dangerous radiation which contributed to the decline of his health and his death in 1965.
In another famous case, two young independentistas were forced to their knees after surrendering on Cerro Maravilla mountain in 1978--and coldly shot by five policemen. One of these cops later described getting orders from the commander of the police intelligence division that the independentistas "should not come down alive.??
And now they have executed Filiberto Ojeda, a man in his seventies, in his isolated rural hideaway. The federal agents poured over a hundred rounds into his house, while Filiberto Ojeda defended himself with shots of his own. Somewhere in that exchange, a government sniper?s bullet ripped through his body, piercing his lung. They then sealed off Ojeda?s house for 12 more hours, as he slowly bled to death.
A storm of outrage and fresh revolutionary sentiment has arisen over this execution.
http://www.rwor.org/a/017/fbi-murder-filiberto-rios.htm
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