Filiberto Ojeda Ríos
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Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was a Puerto Rican terrorist who was the mastermind behind hundreds of attacks against the United States of America to obtain independence for Puerto Rico. He was the leader and founder of both the FALN and the Boricua Popular Army.
Biography edit
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was born in Rio Bianca, Puerto Rico to Inocencio Ojeda on April 26th, 1933 and went to college at fifteen where he was noted as possessing an "engaging intelligence." A strong patriot, Ojeda became radicalised at some point and began assembling groups of like-minded individuals to help gain independence from the USA.
Ojeda formed the Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement in 1950 and the Boricua Popular Army in 1976. Between 1974 and 1983, Ojeda and the FALN masterminded 120 bombings and the murder of a police officer when they stole his car. Ojeda was the mastermind behind the 1981 Muñiz Air National Guard Base attack and the 1983 Wells Fargo armoured car robbery. Ojeda was arrested in 1983 after the FALN were dismantled but was found guilty of shooting at FBI Agents and released on bond with the stipulation of having to wear an electronic tracking tag. On September 23rd 1990, Ojeda cut off the tag and vanished for 15 years; being sentenced to 55 years in absentia and fined $600,000.
On September 23rd 2005, the FBI tracked down Filberto Ojeda to a farmhouse in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico after a tip-off. Around noon, he was shot dead by the Hostage Rescue Team when he opened fire on them. The shooting has been controversial over the years; the FBI director at the time considering it lawful self-defence whereas the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Civil Rights Commission has ruled it as police brutality.