FBI let Puerto
Rican independence fighter bleed to death
SAN JUAN, September 25.—The leader of the
underground Puerto Rican People’s Army (EPB-Macheteros),
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, bled to death – virtually
killed – due to lack of medical attention after
being hit by a bullet in his right clavicle, it was
confirmed today in this capital.
Dr. Héctor Pesquera told Prensa Latina that "the
FBI let him bleed to death," after being shot by a
sniper brought in from the United States.
Pesquera, spokesperson for the Hostosiano
National Independence Movement (MINH), took part in
the autopsy last night in the capital’s Forensic
Science Institute, during which it was confirmed
that the body of the EPB-Macheteros leader only
revealed one bullet wound.
Pesquera assured PL that evidently, the FBI
tactic was not to intervene so that "Comandante
Ojeda Ríos would bleed to death through lack of
medical attention."
"The bullet penetrated the top part of the right
clavicle, crossed his lung and exited from his back,
where it lodged in the bullet-proof vest that he was
wearing," stated the doctor.
The death of Ojeda Ríos happened last Friday in
the western municipality of Hormigueros, after he
was surrounded by a contingent of 300-plus agents,
including 20 snipers brought in from Virginia (United
States).
The 72-year-old leader, who used a pacemaker, was
in Hormigueros to celebrate the Grito de Lares,
when the independence movement recalls the
proclamation of the first Republic of Puerto Rico on
September 23, 1868.
