Filiberto Ojeda Rios Contingent occupies Army ROTC building in Puerto Rico

On November 3, thirty students from diverse organizations making up the umbrella group Filiberto Ojeda Rios Contingent - in honor of the independence leader murdered by the FBI last September 23 - took over the Army Reserves Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) building in the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez and demanded that the ROTC leave the campus and that the FBI leave the country. After occupying the building, students hung a banner out the window with the image of Ojeda Rios printed on it.

The students denounced the assignation of Ojeda Rios and declared that the US government is a puppet of large corporations, spy organizations and the US military.

What follows is an interview with Maria M. Ramirez on the student occupation. Ramirez is part of a coalition of grassroots, pro-independence groups working together in Western Puerto Rico.

Benjamin Dangl: What is the Filiberto Ojeda Rios Contingent?

Maria Ramirez: This is a contingent of university students mainly from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez campus. They are pro independence students from all of the independentista groups. They call themselves Filiberto Ojeda Rios contingent in honor of the leader of the Macheteros a clandestine pro independence group. Filiberto was killed by the FBI on September 23 of this year. This is a special date in Puerto Rican history because it commemorates our revolt in 1868 against Spain. The FBI deliberately wounded Filiberto and then let him bleed to death. This happened while Puerto Rican doctors and nurses were less than a kilometer away at the road block ready to help him out. FBI did not let them pass. The contingent name is also a deliberate reference to Filiberto's last speech that was read at the commemorations in Lares while not known to us the FBI was starting the assault on his house. The speech called for unity of all pro independence forces and that is what we have in this contingent.