Legendary Puerto Rican national liberation fighter Filiberto Ojeda Ríos assassinated by FBI

On Sept. 23, as hundreds of workers and their families were participating in the annual pro-independence commemoration known as "El Grito de Lares," agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigations descended on the town of Hormigueros in western Puerto Rico and fired the shots that killed Puerto Rican liberation hero Filiberto Ojeda Ríos.

El Grito de Lares-The Cry of Lares-marks the historic 1868 uprising carried out by peasants and workers against Spanish colonial rule. This rebellion is considered the birth of the Puerto Rican nation.

FBI agents armed with helicopters, military vehicles and machine guns, and sharpshooters carrying sniper rifles - aided by the Police of Puerto Rico, who closed off regional roads and streets leading to the rural municipality of Hormigueros - all surrounded the home of 72-year-old Filiberto Ojeda Ríos and Elma Beatriz Rosado, his wife.

Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was the leader of the Ejercito Popular Boricua – Los Macheteros (The Popular Army of the People – The Cane Cutters).