Dozens of protesters marched through Puerto Rico's capital Saturday to press authorities to finish an investigation into the death of a fugitive pro-independence activist Filiberto Ojeda Rios during a shootout with the FBI.
Ojeda Rios was the Commander of the Boricua Popular Army, better known as Los Macheteros and had been living clandestinely since 1990.
On Friday September 23rd, a historic day for Puerto Rican “Independentists” and
nationalists known as El Grito de Lares, the FBI assaulted the home of Ojeda Rios, shooting hundreds of rounds which he answered with ten rounds. After three volleys of shots, an FBI sharpshooter apparently shot and wounded Ojeda Rios. FBI officials refused to enter the house and refused entry to supporters, family, lawyers and local government prosecutors. They allowed Ojeda Rios, 72 years old with a pacemaker for his weakened heart, to bleed to death from his wound, causing widespread indignation all over Puerto Rico.
The protesters Saturday walked from a plaza in San Juan to a federal courthouse, chanting slogans and accusing the government of "dragging its feet" on the investigation of the shooting.
Hector Pesquera, a pro-independence activist who led the march accused the government of failing to demand information from the FBI.
According to his widow who managed to escape the shooing, the FBI fired first.
On Friday night nearly 600 people gathered in New York to give tribute to the slain revolutionary leader.
The culminating moment of the evening was the message by Don Rafael Cancel Miranda, pro-independence leader who spent over two decades in U.S. prisons for attacking the U.S. Congress in 1954. Don Rafael spoke of his personal experiences with Filiberto. He spoke about the ideas, dreams and belief in the methods of struggle that they always shared. By killing Filiberto Don Rafael “the FBI attempted to kill us all, to kill our struggle. But they were mistaken. Filiberto lives! And he lives because the main inspiration of Filiberto was love, the love of the homeland and the love for all of us.” Sources: Reader submission, Prolibertad, Newsday, WFSB (Connecticut)
No comments:
Post a Comment