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Filiberto Ojeda Rios
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Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (born in April 26, 1933) is wanted by the FBI for his role in the 1983 Wells Fargo depot robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut as well as bond default in September of 1990.
Ojeda Rios is the current leader of the Boricua Popular Army, a terrorist group with base in Puerto Rico and commonly known as Los Macheteros.
He was formerly one of the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives with a reward of up to $500,000.
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2 Charges against him 3 See also 4 External links 5 References |
Biography
Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was born on April 26, 1933 in Naguabo, Puerto Rico. As a musician, he plays trumpet and guitar.
In 1961, Ojeda Rios moved his family from Puerto Rico to Cuba, and joined the General Intelligence Directorate (DGI), the Cuban intelligence service. A year later he returned to Puerto Rico to spy on the United States military. [1]
In 1967 he founded and led the very first of Puerto Rico's new terrorist groups, the Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement (MIRA).
In the early 1970s, the MIRA was broken by the police and Ojeda Rios arrested. After jumping bail, he headed to New York and formed the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) with old MIRA members as the nucleus.
In 1976, Ojeda Rios renamed the FALN to the Boricua Popular Army —or Ejército Popular Boricua in Spanish— who are also known as Los Macheteros (or "The Machete Wielders" in English).
On September 12, 1983 Los Macheteros stole approximately $7 million from a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut (USA). In the course of the robbery, Ojeda Rios was confronted from a distance by law enforcement officials, and allegedly fired upon them.
In 1985, 19 members of Los Macheteros were indicted for offenses associated with the robbery. Fourteen were convicted after trial; one was acquitted. Charges against another were dismissed. Three, including Ojeda Rios and Victor Manuel Gerena, have never been caught.
In July of 1992, Ojeda Rios was sentenced in absentia to 55 years in prison and fined $600,000. [1]
Charges against him
See also
External links
References