FBI Killing of Puerto Rican Independence Leader Sparks Outpouring of Anti-US Sentiment

We continue our look at the FBI killing of Puerto Rican independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios. Nearly a week has passed since FBI agents surrounded his house, resulting in a shootout that left Ojeda Rios dead and an FBI agent wounded.

His killing has sparked an outpouring of anti-U.S. sentiment in Puerto Rico and fears that the Bush administration will launch a new crackdown on the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Earlier this week tens of thousands attended his funeral making it one of the largest funerals in Puerto Rican history.

Puerto Ricans of all political stripes have questioned the FBI's actions, especially because the shooting took place on Sept. 23 - the anniversary of an 1868 uprising against Spanish rule.

The FBI considered Ojeda Rios a fugitive from justice and the head of a domestic terrorist group - the militant Puerto Rican independence group Los Macheteros. But in Puerto Rico he has long been viewed as a leader of the independence movement. Now many see him as a martyr who was killed at the hands of U.S. agents.

Puerto Rican officials and Amnesty International are calling for an independent probe into his death. Amnesty said that the killing should be considered an extra-judicial execution if the FBI deliberately killed Ojeda Ríos or deliberately left him to die, when they could have arrested him.

Although FBI agents shot him Friday afternoon at his home they waited 20 hours before entering the house. Autopsy reports show that he bled to death from a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

* Jorge Farinacci, spokesperson for the Puerto Rican Socialist Front, and friend of Filiberto Ojeda.
* Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua , a Harvard-eductaed attorney and independent political analyst in Puerto Rico. He hosts one of the islands most popular radio programs on Noti Uno.

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