#Filiberto Ojeda Rios

[boricuacherry-blog]

Founded in the 1970s, Los Macheteros (the Cane Cutters) is an insurgent organization that campaigns for, and supports, the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. It was led primarily by Filiberto Ojeda Rios, until he was assassinated by the FBI in 2005. His killing was deemed an "illegal killing" by Puerto Rico's Civil Rights Commission after a seven year investigation.

[solmaspuro]

all i’m sayin is

[truth-seeker2]

PUERTO RICO - mural depicting Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, commander of the Boricua Popular Army which engaged in small-scale guerilla war since 1976 against the americans, who have forcibly held Puerto Rico as a colony since 1899

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

By Berta Joubert-Ceci

Esta semana en Puerto Rico fueron arrestados dos alcaldes por el FBI, una entidad federal estadounidense. Y aunque ahora esté aparentemente combatiendo la corrupción, no nos olvidemos de que esta es la misma agencia que en el 2005 trajo a PR cientos de agentes para asesinar, dejándolo desangrar, al patriota machetero Filiberto Ojeda Ríos.

[iandeleonarts]

[bondvagabond]

CLANDESTINE FILIBERTO #art by @vgbnd �� Filiberto Ojeda Rios was a Puerto Rican revolutionary, a man who devoted his life to the freedom of Puerto Rico from SU imperialism... He would have been 88 today if the FBI hadn't assassinated him in his home on September 23rd of 2005... September 23rd is a significant date in Puerto Rican history. In 1868 in the mountain town of Lares there was an uprising against Spanish colonial rule that is known as El Grito De Lares (the Cry Of Lares) that ultimately failed but led to the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico... That day is commemorated every year in Puerto Rico and throughout the diaspora... • On September 23rd, 1990, while on bail, Filiberto cut the electronic tag on his ankle and disappeared... He would often mock the FBI, and US imperialism in general by giving radio interviews, writing articles in newspapers and even doing television interviews while living clandestinely living in Puerto Rico... Filiberto would often note that the island nation of Puerto Rico is only 35 miles wide and 100 miles long - but the powers of US imperialism couldn't find him... The FBI did eventually find Filiberto but only because someone saw Filiberto and told the FBI where he was... • Every year Filiberto would send an audio message to be played on September 23rd at the annual commemoration of El Grito De Lares... While that audio message played, the FBI surrounded Filiberto's home and began a gunfight... Filiberto was shot in his clavicle from a helicopter by an FBI sniper and left to bleed to death... • @dylciapagan a former US-held Puerto Rican political prisoner of war who served 20 years fighting for Puerto Rico's freedom said that the FBI's assassination of Filiberto was an attempt to assassinate the spirit of the Puerto Rican people's desire for freedom... • #FreePuertoRico #FilibertoPresente #FilibertoVive #Machetero #EPB #FALN #filmmaking #guerrillafilmmaking #AVT #AudioVisualTerrorism (at Puerto Rico) https://www.instagram.com/p/COIrneXBvD7/?igshid=jioq2wemsmqw

[newingtonnow]

Financing a Free Puerto Rico: The Great Wells Fargo Heist of 1983

By Nancy Finlay

On September 12, 1983, a Wells Fargo employee tied up and attempted to drug two co-workers at the Wells Fargo depot at 21 Culbro Drive in West Hartford, Connecticut. He then loaded over $7 million into a rented car parked in the loading dock and drove away. At the time, it was the largest cash robbery in American history.

At first authorities assumed that Victor Gerena, the young Wells Fargo guard who took the money, acted alone, and some local residents hailed him as a Robin Hood-styled hero. Eventually, however, it became clear that this was not the act of a single individual. Gerena was a recruit of Juan Segarra Palmer, one of the leaders of a group of Puerto Rican independence fighters called Los Macheteros.

Planning the Great Wells Fargo Heist

“Folk Hero Emerges in Heist” is the title of a September 16, 1983, Hartford Courant news article.

Segarra Palmer, a graduate of Philips Academy and Harvard University, was living in Puerto Rico when he planned the heist. He contacted Gerena at a pay phone in Arthur’s Drug Store in the Asylum Hill area of Hartford. Later he came to Hartford to rehearse the robbery, the delivery of the stolen money, and Gerena’s escape. Brilliantly planned and executed, the robbery came off without a hitch, except that the drug intended to knock out Gerena’s co-workers failed to have the desired effect, and both men remained conscious throughout the robbery.

Segarra Palmer claimed that the theft was a political act and that the he used the money to advance the cause of Puerto Rican independence. Few people in West Hartford had heard of Los Macheteros and most were unaware that a vocal segment of the Puerto Rican population had been actively seeking independence ever since the United States acquired Puerto Rico in 1898, following the Spanish-American War. The robbery took place on September 12 because that was the birth date of Pedro Albizu Campos, one of the most determined Puerto Rican nationalists of the early 20th century.

Los Macheteros

Founded in the 1970s, Los Macheteros drew inspiration from Albizu, who believed that the people of a colonized country had the right to use violence in their struggle for independence. The name “Los Macheteros” means “the Cane Cutters”; sugar cane was once Puerto Rico’s most important agricultural product. During the 1970s and 1980s, Los Macheteros attacked the United States government, military, and corporate installations, chiefly in Puerto Rico. While many people regarded them as terrorists, others saw them as Puerto Rican patriots.

Filiberto Ojeda Rios displays a Puerto Rican flag as he left U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn., in this May 20, 1988 file photo after making bail. Ojeda jumped bond two years later and was killed in Puerto Rico on Friday, Sept. 23, 2005 – © Associated Press photo

On August 30, 1985, in raids conducted all over Puerto Rico, FBI agents and federal marshals apprehended those suspected of being members of Los Macheteros. They eventually filed charges against 19 individuals. In 1988, nine men, including Juan Segarra Palmer, were brought to trial in the federal courthouse in Hartford despite their protests that their case should be tried by an international court. The numerous charges against them ranged from money laundering to conspiracy to overthrow the United States government in Puerto Rico.

The jury was drawn from all over Connecticut. One of the defendants, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leader of Los Macheteros, skipped bail because he believed he would not get a fair trial. A jury found the remaining defendants guilty. Segarra Palmer received fifty-five years in prison, to be served at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Many rights activists believed the defendants’ sentences excessive. For some, the prisoners symbolized unfair treatment of Puerto Ricans by the United States.

In 1999, shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton granted clemency to the Puerto Rican prisoners. Segarra Palmer initially refused to accept Clinton’s offer of clemency but eventually left prison in 2004. Ojeda Rios, the man who skipped bail, died in a shootout with the FBI in 2006. Victor Gerena, the man who actually took the money from the Wells Fargo depot, remains at large and is one of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Authorities never recovered the stolen money.

Nancy Finlay grew up in Manchester, Connecticut. She has a BA from Smith College and an MFA and PhD from Princeton University. From 1998 to 2015, she was Curator of Graphics at the Connecticut Historical Society.

from Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project https://connecticuthistory.org/financing-a-free-puerto-rico-the-great-wells-fargo-heist-of-1983/

[pansexuanarchy]

Puerto Rican independentists have literally been assassinated by the FBI like the case of Filiberto Ojeda Rios. But you obviously dont know anything about Puerto Rico and our history. It's all about colonialism, it absolutely is a puppet state, and you dont know shit. Are you Puerto Rican? Bc the guy you're claiming to defend hasn't responded to any of this. So maybe just shut the fuck up and quit trying to act like you know shit.

Reminder that the US is slowly committing genocide on Puerto Ricans through environmental racism and colonial repression.

[mynameisel]

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Leonard Peltier, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, and anyone else who was a voice for oppressed people before our government began to "investigate" them shortly before their untimely deaths.

[boricuacherry-blog]

[hrexach]

Five Years Later: Remembering Puerto Rican Nationalist Leader Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

Filiberto Ojeda Rios … killed by American Intellegence 5 years ago! 🇵🇷

[bloghrexach]

Five Years Later: Remembering Puerto Rican Nationalist Leader Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

Filiberto Ojeda Rios … killed by American Intellegence 5 years ago! 🇵🇷

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

September 23, 2005: Macheteros leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios killed in a battle with U.S. FBI agents. 

[pansexuanarchy]

Besides the blatant acts of systematic murder and genocide swept under the rug, Puerto Rico also faces a big history of political repression when it comes to their independence.

A lot of people dont know the Puerto Rican flag was illegal to have up until the 90s

A lot of people dont know about groups like Los Macheteros which existed into the 70s and literally distributed money from the banks to the people (Robin hood style) and sabotaged US military bases in Puerto Rico fighting for independence.

A lot of people don't know the leader of that organization, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, was murdered by the FBI in his own house in front of his family.

A lot of people dont know that Puerto Rico did actually proclaim its independence in 1868, the event which we now call "El Grito de Lares" but was immediately invaded by the United States after the Spanish American War ended.

A lot of people dont know about the Ponce Massacres where innocent demonstrators were shot at by the police in 1937. 19 protesters died and 200 were injured.

Fucking learn about Puerto Rican history. It's important. It's never been good and it's not exactly getting any better.

its amazing to me the mental olympics people perform about puerto rico like. people out there still think puerto rico owes a debt to the US for being “allowed” to be part of the union like and thats just so ugly to me. Don’t misunderstand, I think puerto rico should be its own independent nation and thats the only way forward. But the fact that puerto rico has been kept as a colony and never even been offered statehood and the rights that come with it is just so…………..GOD.

[newingtonnow]

Financing a Free Puerto Rico: The Great Wells Fargo Heist of 1983

By Nancy Finlay

On September 12, 1983, a Wells Fargo employee tied up and attempted to drug two co-workers at the Wells Fargo depot at 21 Culbro Drive in West Hartford, Connecticut. He then loaded over $7 million into a rented car parked in the loading dock and drove away. At the time, it was the largest cash robbery in American history.

At first authorities assumed that Victor Gerena, the young Wells Fargo guard who took the money, acted alone, and some local residents hailed him as a Robin Hood-styled hero. Eventually, however, it became clear that this was not the act of a single individual. Gerena was a recruit of Juan Segarra Palmer, one of the leaders of a group of Puerto Rican independence fighters called Los Macheteros.

Planning the Great Wells Fargo Heist

“Folk Hero Emerges in Heist” is the title of a September 16, 1983, Hartford Courant news article.

Segarra Palmer, a graduate of Philips Academy and Harvard University, was living in Puerto Rico when he planned the heist. He contacted Gerena at a pay phone in Arthur’s Drug Store in the Asylum Hill area of Hartford. Later he came to Hartford to rehearse the robbery, the delivery of the stolen money, and Gerena’s escape. Brilliantly planned and executed, the robbery came off without a hitch, except that the drug intended to knock out Gerena’s co-workers failed to have the desired effect, and both men remained conscious throughout the robbery.

Segarra Palmer claimed that the theft was a political act and that the he used the money to advance the cause of Puerto Rican independence. Few people in West Hartford had heard of Los Macheteros and most were unaware that a vocal segment of the Puerto Rican population had been actively seeking independence ever since the United States acquired Puerto Rico in 1898, following the Spanish-American War. The robbery took place on September 12 because that was the birth date of Pedro Albizu Campos, one of the most determined Puerto Rican nationalists of the early 20th century.

Los Macheteros

Founded in the 1970s, Los Macheteros drew inspiration from Albizu, who believed that the people of a colonized country had the right to use violence in their struggle for independence. The name “Los Macheteros” means “the Cane Cutters”; sugar cane was once Puerto Rico’s most important agricultural product. During the 1970s and 1980s, Los Macheteros attacked the United States government, military, and corporate installations, chiefly in Puerto Rico. While many people regarded them as terrorists, others saw them as Puerto Rican patriots.

Filiberto Ojeda Rios displays a Puerto Rican flag as he left U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn., in this May 20, 1988 file photo after making bail. Ojeda jumped bond two years later and was killed in Puerto Rico on Friday, Sept. 23, 2005 – © Associated Press photo

On August 30, 1985, in raids conducted all over Puerto Rico, FBI agents and federal marshals apprehended those suspected of being members of Los Macheteros. They eventually filed charges against 19 individuals. In 1988, nine men, including Juan Segarra Palmer, were brought to trial in the federal courthouse in Hartford despite their protests that their case should be tried by an international court. The numerous charges against them ranged from money laundering to conspiracy to overthrow the United States government in Puerto Rico.

The jury was drawn from all over Connecticut. One of the defendants, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, a leader of Los Macheteros, skipped bail because he believed he would not get a fair trial. A jury found the remaining defendants guilty. Segarra Palmer received fifty-five years in prison, to be served at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Many rights activists believed the defendants’ sentences excessive. For some, the prisoners symbolized unfair treatment of Puerto Ricans by the United States.

In 1999, shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton granted clemency to the Puerto Rican prisoners. Segarra Palmer initially refused to accept Clinton’s offer of clemency but eventually left prison in 2004. Ojeda Rios, the man who skipped bail, died in a shootout with the FBI in 2006. Victor Gerena, the man who actually took the money from the Wells Fargo depot, remains at large and is one of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Authorities never recovered the stolen money.

Nancy Finlay grew up in Manchester, Connecticut. She has a BA from Smith College and an MFA and PhD from Princeton University. From 1998 to 2015, she was Curator of Graphics at the Connecticut Historical Society.

from ConnecticutHistory.org https://connecticuthistory.org/financing-a-free-puerto-rico-the-great-wells-fargo-heist-of-1983/