thumb|right|Ojeda Ríos
'''Filiberto Ojeda Ríos''' (* USA. Ojeda Ríos stand als „Verantwortlicher General“ der Macheteros während der 1990er Jahre auf der Liste der meistgesuchten Personen des FBI. Er wurde im Alter von 72 Jahren erschossen, als FBI-Agenten ihn festzunehmen versuchten.

==Biografie==
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos zog 1961 mit seiner Familie nach Kuba, wo er vom Kubanischen Geheimdienst zum Agenten ausgebildet wurde. Ein Jahr später kehrte er nach Puerto Rico zurück, angeblich um amerikanische Militäranlagen auszuspionieren. 

1967 gründete er die militante Unabhängigkeitsbewegung ''Movimiento Independentista Revolucionario Armado'' (MIRA), die er fortan leitete. Als die MIRA Anfang der 1970er Jahre von der Polizei ausgehoben wurde, wurde auch Ojeda Ríos verhaftet. 
Nach seiner Freilassung zog er nach New York und gründete gemeinsam mit ehemaligen MIRA-Mitgliedern die ''Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional'' (FALN), die 1977 in ''Ejército Popular Boricua'' (Volksarmee Boricua) umbenannt wurde. Die Organisation wurde meist ''Los Macheteros'' genannt.

Sie bekannte sich in den folgenden Jahrzehnten zu etwa hundert Bombenanschlägen auf Puerto Rico und in den USA. Im Jahre 1978 erschossen die ''Macheteros'' einen puertoricanischen Polizisten, bei zwei Feuerüberfällen auf unbewaffnete amerikanische Marineangehörige erschossen sie 1979 und 1982 insgesamt drei Seeleute und verwundeten zwölf weitere. 

Bei dem Überfall auf den Stützpunkt Muniz der A7-D Corsair-Kampfflugzeuge. Der Schaden belief sich auf 45 Millionen US-Dollar.

Am Wells Fargo in West Hartford (Connecticut). Dabei erbeuteten sie 7,2 Millionen Dollar, was zu diesem Zeitpunkt die größte je erzielte Beute bei einem Raubüberfall in den USA war. Ein Teil der Beute wurde angeblich unter den Armen Puerto Ricos verteilt, der Großteil diente jedoch der Finanzierung weiterer bewaffneter Aktionen.

Als das FBI Ojeda 1985 verhaftete, eröffnete er das Feuer und verletzte einen der Beamten schwer. Seinen Anwälten gelang es, das Strafverfahren bis 1989 zu verschleppen. Ein puertoricanisches Gericht verurteilte ihn wegen des Vorfalls bei seiner Verhaftung lediglich zu einer Bewährungsstrafe und zum Tragen einer elektronischen Fessel. Am 23. September 1990 entfernte er die Fessel und tauchte unter.
Im Juli 1992 wurde er wegen des Wells Fargo-Überfalls in Abwesenheit zu 55 Jahren Gefängnis und einer Geldstrafe von 600.000 Dollar verurteilt.

In den folgenden Jahren gab er puertoricanischen Zeitungen gelegentlich Interviews, vorzugsweise am puertoricanischen Nationalfeiertag, dem 23. September, dem Jahrestag des ''Grito de Lares'', des ersten Aufstands der Puertoricaner gegen die Spanier im Jahre 1868. Den amerikanischen und puertoricanischen Behörden gelang es jedoch nicht, ihn aufzuspüren. Die ''Macheteros'' traten allerdings nur noch selten in Erscheinung.

{{Infobox Person
|name        = Filiberto Ojeda Ríos
|image       = Filiberto_ojeda_rios_fbi_photograph_02_with_black_border.jpg
|caption     = 
|birth_date  = April 26, 1933
|birth_place = Naguabo, Puerto Rico
|death_date  = September 23, 2005
|death_place = Hormigueros, Puerto Rico
|other_names = 
|known_for   = Leader of the Macheteros<br>
Founder of FALN<br>
Founder of MIRA<br>
Former FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives<br>
|occupation  = 
|nationality = Puerto Rican
}}
'''Filiberto Ojeda Ríos''' (United States law enforcement agencies as a terrorist organization, based on the island and commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with branches in the mainland United States and in other countries. ''Los Macheteros'' is a political group which advocates independence for Puerto Rico through violent means. The organization considers United States rule over Puerto Rico to be oppressive colonization. 

For his last fifteen years, Ojeda Ríos was wanted as a fugitive by the FBI for his role in the 1983 Wells Fargo depot robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut, as well as a bail bond default in September 1990. Ojeda Ríos was killed on 23 September 2005 when members of the FBI claim they attempted to serve an arrest warrant on him, after surrounding the house in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico where he was hiding. The FBI operation has raised questions both in and outside Puerto Rico. 

The killing of Ojeda Ríos has been mourned by members of the Puerto Rican Independence movement, who have expressed their indignation through repeated protests. Members of the statehood movement and supporters of the Commonwealth have also joined in the criticism of the federal and local handling of this incident. In late March 2006, the Puerto Rico Justice Department sued federal authorities, including FBI Director Robert Mueller and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, 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. The lawsuit was dismissed in the summer of 2007.

== Biography ==
Ojeda Ríos was born on Salsa band from the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico.<ref name="Salsa"/> As a member of "La Sonora Ponceña" he performed both instruments on stage.<ref name="Salsa"/> In 1961, he moved his family from Puerto Rico to Cuba and was recruited into the General Intelligence Directorate, the Cuban intelligence service.<ref></ref> A year later he returned to Puerto Rico, allegedly to spy on the United States military.

In 1967 he founded and led the very first of Puerto Rico's new militant political groups, the Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement (Movimiento Independentista Revolucionario Armado).<ref></ref> MIRA was disbanded by police in the early 1970s and Ríos was arrested. He subsequently skipped bail and moved to New York, where he cofounded the Armed Forces of National Liberation (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional) (FALN) with former MIRA members as a membership base. In 1976, Ojeda Ríos founded the Boricua Popular Army (Ejercito Popular Boricua), also known as Los Macheteros (The Machete Wielders), named after the sugar cane harvesters, who use machetes to cut the canes. 
thumb|right|Ejercito Popular Boricua logo.
Los Macheteros have been alleged to be either directly or indirectly responsible for numerous acts of terrorism and bombings in Puerto Rico and the mainland United States. The group has claimed responsibility for several incendiary and explosive incidents, including an explosion at Frances Tavern, a historical tavern located in New York City, which killed those inside the building and injured other bystanders.<ref name="Macheteros"/> The group was involved in the assassination of a Puerto Rican policeman who refused to surrender his car.<ref name="Macheteros"></ref>  The group was responsible for nearly 120 bombings in the United States between 1974 and 1983.<ref name="Macheteros"/>

On September 12, 1983, Los Macheteros stole approximately $7 million from a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.  The money obtained from this operation was allegedly used to help fund the Puerto Rican independence movement, but there is ample evidence that a significant portion of the stolen funds -- a minimum of $2-$3 million -- was funnelled to Cuba through their embassy in Mexico City by one of the members of Los Macheteros.<ref>{{cite web| author=Armando André 
| url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/wells-fargo.htm Spanish| title=El robo de $7 millones de la Wells Fargo| publisher=Latin American Studies| accessdate=2007-09-30}}</ref>

In 1985, 19 members of Los Macheteros were indicted for offenses associated with the Wells Fargo heist. Ojeda was captured as part of an FBI operation that took place following two years of surveillance on the group.<ref name="Uzi">{{cite web| author=Armando André 
| url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/delatan.htm| title=Los Macheteros se delatan unos a otros| publisher=La Crónica Gráfica| accessdate=2007-09-30}}</ref> In the operation a group of twenty-four agents protected by bulletproof vests, entered the building where Ojeda had his residence.<ref name="Uzi"/> The agents received assistance from a group of snipers located on adjacent buildings and a helicopter. When Ojeda noticed the presence of the agents he fired a sub-machine gun at them and threatened to kill anyone that tried to reach the building's second floor.<ref name="Uzi"/> In the meanwhile Ojeda's wife Blanca Iris Serrano burned documents in the apartment's bathroom.<ref name="Uzi"/> When the agents tried to climb the ladder to reach the building's second floor Filiberto opened fire against them injuring one of them, at this moment one of the snipers disarmed him with a bullet giving the other agents enough time to arrest him.<ref name="Uzi"/>   

Ojeda Ríos was released on bond after his attorneys claimed he had been denied a speedy trial, although the delay in bringing him to trial was largely the result of defense motions. Ojeda cut off the electronic monitoring device that had been placed on his ankle as a condition of his release, and became a fugitive.<ref></ref> Fourteen of the 19 defendants were convicted after trial; one was acquitted. Charges against another were dismissed. Three, including Ojeda and Victor Manuel Gerena, were able to elude authorities. 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.<ref name="FBI"/>

In 1998, Rios recorded a public statement where he accepted responsibility for an explosion on the construction site of a public project.<ref name="super acueducto"/> In this statement he declared that the Macheteros were the authors of the incident, and that they accepted all responsibility for their actions.<ref name="super acueducto"/> Ojeda expressed that they accepted responsibility for the explosion directly because in the past the police has supposedly created false evidence against the organization.<ref name="super acueducto"></ref> On Vieques continued, the group would take action. This was made public on an interview with WIAC that took place on 7 December 1999.<ref name="guerilla"></ref> In the interview he declared that the Macheteros "were going to pay close attention to what happened in Vieques" and that the US government "knew they were serious".<ref name="guerilla"/>

==Death==
On September 23, 2005, Ojeda Ríos was surrounded in his hiding place, a home in the outskirts of the town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, by members of the FBI's San Juan field office and shot fatally. The FBI has recounted the incident in a press release.<ref name="FBI"></ref> According to this document, the FBI was performing surveillance of the area driven by reports that Ojeda had been spotted in the home. The FBI determined its surveillance team had been detected, and decided to proceed with serving an arrest warrant against Ojeda. As the agents approached the home, Ojeda opened fire. One agent was wounded. A coroner's autopsy concluded that Ojeda bled to death over the course of several hours. Filiberto's Wife says "FBI entered the house shooting with no warning." The FBI denies these accounts, stating Ojeda opened fire as agents approached.

No clear evidence has emerged to prove who fired the first shots. According to Ojeda's wife, Elma Beatriz Rosada Barbosa, as well as neighbor Héctor Reyes, it was the FBI agents who initiated the shooting at 3:00 pm. The FBI press release, however, claims that "as the FBI agents approached the front of the farm house at approximately 4:28 p.m., Ojeda-Rios opened the front door to the residence and opened fire on the FBI agents . . . . In response to the gunfire from Ojeda-Rios, the FBI returned fire and established a defensive perimeter in order to contain the environment."

Rosada has alleged that Ojeda offered to turn himself in to journalist Jesús Dávila, but that his offer was rebuffed by the agents, who feared he would take the journalist as a hostage.

The Commonwealth Police Superintendent, Pedro Toledo Dávila, confirmed through a local news radio station, WAPA Radio, that the former Most Wanted fugitive was dead.  The Government of Puerto Rico also confirmed the news. However, the FBI did not confirm Ojeda's death until the next day, when it contacted the Governor of Puerto Rico to give the confirmation. 

Ojeda-friendly political parties in Puerto Rico have criticized the handling of this altercation.  Among the aspects objected to are the very date of September 23. On this date in 1868, at the village of Lares, a group of Puerto Rican revolutionaries launched a rebellion against the then-ruling Spanish colonial authorities with a declaration, the Grito de Lares ("Cry of Lares"). Although the rebellion was quickly suppressed, the anniversary of the uprising is commemorated by Puerto Ricans and it has been chosen by the independence movement as a rallying point. Ojeda Ríos was renowned for picking anniversaries of the Grito de Lares to make statements to his followers from undisclosed hideouts. 

The current Governor of Puerto Rico Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, has criticized the FBI assault as "improper" and "highly irregular" and has demanded to know why his government was not informed of it. The FBI has refused to release any information beyond the official press release, citing security and agent privacy issues and an ongoing internal investigation. Nevertheless, the Puerto Rico Justice Department 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.