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Ejercito Popular Boricua - Macheteros (EPB-Macheteros)

The Macheteros, a terrorist group whose goal is the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States, literally translates as "the machete wielders" The group generally carried out its terrorist activities within Puerto Rico, and the name bespeaks the violence for which they were known. The Macheteros claimed responsibility for various acts of violence in Puerto Rico, such as the murder of a police officer in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, in August 1978 and the killing of U.S. Navy sailors in Puerto Rico in 1979 and 1982.

The publicly stated goal of the Macheteros is to obtain the independence of Puerto Rico by armed struggle against the United States government. The goals of the Macheteros were complete autonomy and sovereignty for Puerto Rico. In order to achieve their goals, the Macheteros conducted an armed struggle against the U.S. Government, mainly represented through attacks on military and police, in several cases causing the death of U.S. servicemen.

Several clandestine terrorist organizations promoted the independence of Puerto Rico through violent means. The groups involved were the Armed Forces of Puerto Rican National Liberation (FALN or in Spanish, Fuerzas Armadas Liberacion Nacional Puertoriquena) and the Popular Boricua Army (Ejercito Popular Boricua), commonly known as the Macheteros.

Throughout the late 1970's and mid-1980's these groups claimed responsibility for numerous bombings and robberies, causing a reign of terror in both the United States and Puerto Rico. The FALN operated in the continental United States, while the Macheteros were active mostly in Puerto Rico. Ultimately, the Macheteros were responsible for a wave of terror in Puerto Rico that left five dead and caused many millions of dollars in damages.

In 1998 testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh discussed threats to the United States' security, stating that, "[t]he EPB-Macheteros has been the most active and violent of the Puerto Rican-based terrorist groups since it emerged in 1978."

The Macheteros financed their operations through revolutionary expropriations [aka "robberies"], the largest being the September 12, 1983, robbery of Wells Wargo. During that operation, the Macheteros stole $7.2 million, the largest armored car robbery at the time. The FBI found that the Macheteros used the proceeds of several Wells Fargo robberies in Puerto Rico and the Hartford robbery, to finance its activities.

The EPB-Macheteros, better known as Macheteros, was one of the most violent groups operating in Puerto Rico. Similar to the FALN, the existence of the Macheteros became publicly known when the group sent a communique to the United Press International in which they claimed credit for the death of a Puerto Rican police officer on August 24, 1978. Authorities later determined that the group had robbed at least two banks prior to the murder.

The Macheteros have also claimed responsibility for numerous bombings in Puerto Rico. On October 17, 1979, the Macheteros conducted eight bomb attacks against various federal facilities across Puerto Rico. In January 1981, the organization used bombs to destroy nine U.S. fighter aircraft at the Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Later the same year, the Macheteros bombed three separate buildings of the Puerto Rico Electric Company. In 1983, the Macheteros fired a Light Anti-Tank Weapon (commonly called a LAW rocket) into the U.S. Federal Building in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, damaging the offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FBI. In January 1985, the Macheteros fired a LAW rocket into a building in Old San Juan that housed the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies.

The Macheteros continued to use the ambush effectively. In March 1980, the Macheteros attacked and wounded three United States Army officers on their way to the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Pedras Campus, to participate in ROTC activities. In a January 1981 attack, Macheteros commandos infiltrated a Puerto Rican Air National Guard base and blew up 11 planes, causing approximately $45 million in damages. "La Gaviota," which literally translates as seagull, was the codeword for the Macheteros attack at the Air National Guard base. Macheteros literature describes the attack as the "most overwhelming blow given to the Yankees in `North American territory' since Pearl Harbor and outside its territory since the TET offensive in Vietnam."

This group was responsible for a total of three incidents in 1983. On April 29, 1983, at approximately 8:10 a.m., three armed persons entered the offices of Empresas Rojo, a construction Puerto Rico, and took the employees hostage in order to rob the Fargo truck due to arrive at the company. However, the individuals received information that the police were in the lead before they could rob the truck. Based on their actions and operandi, the EPB-Macheteros was believed responsible for this incident.

On July 15, 1983, at Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, a number of armed unknown subjects (nine to fifteen) wearing fatigues robbed an armored Wells Fargo truck of cash and checks. During the robbery, the driver was killed, but the passenger was unharmed. This incident was buted to the EPB-Macheteros based on the modus operandi.

On October 30, 1983, at approximately 7:43 p.m., the Macheteros executed a "bazooka attack" on the Federal Building, Puerto Rico, utilizing a light anti-tank weapon manufactured for the United States Army. No one was injured; however, this resulted in shattered windows and frames in the United States Department of Agriculture space.

In the late evening hours of October 30, 1983, an unknown female telephonically contacted the office of the Associated Press in Sna Jujuan Puerto Rico, and claimed credit for the attack on behalf of the EPB-Macheteros in support of the people of Grenada. A subsequent Macheteros communique state stated the target of the attack was the San Juan office of the FBI. Investigation determined that at least three persons and two vehicles were uti1ized in this attack.

The capture and conviction of the individual members of the FALN and Macheteros brought an end to the reign of terror in Puerto Rico and the United States. Although a few random assaults may have occurred, mostly in Puerto Rico, the continual assaults on New York, Chicago, and law enforcement and Naval officers in Puerto Rico virtually came to a halt. A group of individuals connected to the Macheteros and was tried in 1989 in Connecticut: Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer, Antonio Camacho Negron, Norman Ramirez Talavera and Roberto Maldonado Rivera.

The Macheteros had also been active more recently. On March 31, 1998, they claimed responsibility for the bombing of the superaqueduct at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. According to a statement by the Macheteros, the attack was in retaliation for ``environmental aggression,'' and was ``only the beginning of what from now on will constitute a line of action in defense of our country.'' The Macheteros also took responsibility for the June 9, 1998, attacks on two branches of the Banco Popular. The Macheteros set off a bomb at the first branch while they conducted a drive-by shooting of the second branch. The Macheteros claimed that the attacks were to show support for the telephone company strike.

On August 11, 1999, President Clinton extended offers of clemency to 16 terrorists incarcerated in Federal prison. Prior to the offer of clemency to the 16 FALN and Macheteros terrorists, President Clinton had received 3,229 requests for clemency. He had acted favorably on only 3 of these requests. The 16 terrorists appeared to be most unlikely candidates. They did not personally request clemency. They did not admit to wrongdoing and they had not renounced violence before such a renunciation had been made a quid pro quo for their release. They expressed no contrition for their crimes, and were at times openly belligerent about their actions. Some had been involved in escape attempts from Federal prison.

As the FBI made clear in a written statement prepared for the Committee's September 21, 1999, hearing: ``The FALN and Macheteros terrorist groups continue to pose a danger to the U.S. Government and to the American people, here and in Puerto Rico. . . . The challenge before us is the potential that the release of these individuals will psychologically and operationally enhance the ongoing violent and criminal activities of terrorist groups, not only in Puerto Rico, but throughout the world.''

Filiberto Ojeda Rios was born in Puerto Rico in 1933. In the mid-1970s Ojeda helped to organize the Macheteros. The publicly stated goal of the Macheteros is to obtain the independence of Puerto Rico by armed struggle against the United States government. The FBI considers the Macheteros to be a terrorist organization. Ojeda was the leader of and spokesman for the Macheteros.

Ojeda Rios was the leader of the “Macheteros,” the violent Puerto Rican organization that claimed credit for murders, bombings, and robberies throughout the island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. The Macheteros have claimed responsibility for the murder of a police officer in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, in August 1978 and the killing of U.S. Navy sailors in Puerto Rico in 1979 and 1982. In 1985, Ojeda Rios was arrested for his participation in a 1983 Wells Fargo robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut.

During the 1985 arrest Ojeda Rios shot at FBI agents, seriously wounding one of them. On August 30, 1985, the FBI conducted a large-scale operation in Puerto Rico to arrest Ojeda and other alleged members of the Macheteros in connection with the Wells Fargo robbery. According to contemporaneous FBI accounts, Ojeda did not respond to loud announcements from the agents of their presence and intent to execute a warrant at his residence. When the FBI entered Ojeda’s residence, Ojeda fired several shots down a stairway at the arrest team. One of the shots ricocheted and struck an agent, permanently blinding him in one eye. Ojeda fired more shots and threatened to shoot anyone who attempted to climb the stairs. After a dialog with the agents, Ojeda allowed his wife to surrender to the FBI. A few minutes later, Ojeda appeared at the base of the stairs holding a pistol in his left hand and an Uzi shoulder weapon in his right hand. The agents instructed him in Spanish and English to drop his weapons. According to the agents, Ojeda then raised the pistol. One of the agents fired at Ojeda. The shot struck Ojeda’s pistol and knocked it from his hand. Ojeda dropped the Uzi and was subdued by the agents.

Ojeda represented himself in his 1989 trial in Puerto Rico on the charge of assaulting the FBI agents during the arrest operation, arguing self defense. He was acquitted by a jury.

Ojeda was released on bond pending trial in Connecticut on charges relating to the Wells Fargo robbery. On September 23, 1990, Ojeda cut off his electronic monitoring device and announced that he had gone back underground to continue the struggle against the government of the United States. Ojeda thereby violated the conditions of his release and became a federal fugitive. The United States District Court in Connecticut issued an arrest warrant the next day, charging Ojeda with bond default. In July 1992, Ojeda was tried in absentia in Connecticut and found guilty on 14 counts related to the Wells Fargo robbery, fined $600,000, and sentenced to 55 years in prison.

After becoming a fugitive in 1990, Ojeda periodically gave interviews to the media in Puerto Rico, and his recorded speeches were played at pro-independence rallies. According to media accounts and FBI files, in these statements Ojeda reiterated that the Macheteros remained active as an organization and he continued to advocate an “armed struggle” for independence. In 2003, Ojeda issued a letter condemning an FBI “wanted” advertisement that included a photograph of his wife. Ojeda described the Macheteros as “indestructible” and urged supporters to send him the names of FBI agents in Puerto Rico for future publication.

On September 23, 2005, at least a hundred heavily-armed FBI agents landed in Puerto Rico from the United States to apprehend the independence leader, Filiberto Ojeda Rios. The operation included helicopters, military vehicles, machine guns and sharpshooters. With the cooperation of the Puerto Rican police, the FBI closed off roads, turned electricity off and surrounded Ojeda Rios residence in the western town of Hormigueros, where he and his wife Elma Beatriz Rosado were living.

Ojeda Rios was shot dead.

the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Report entitled “A Review of the September 2005 Shooting Incident Involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Filiberto Ojeda Rios" was released August 09, 2006. The OIG confirmed the sequence of events that officials described after the incident. The OIG concluded that Ojeda Rios initiated the gunfight and opened fire on FBI agents as they attempted to enter the residence. Ojeda Rios fired 19 rounds, 8 of which struck FBI agents. One agent was seriously wounded in the abdomen. The agents, members of the specialized Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), then returned fire.

The OIG determined that the agents were justified in returning fire and that the agents’ use of force in the Ojeda Rios operation, including the shot that killed Ojeda Rios, did not violate the Department of Justice Deadly Force Policy. This policy states that Department law enforcement officers may use deadly force when the officer “has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” The OIG also concluded the delay in entering the house after Ojeda Rios was shot was based upon a legitimate concern for agent safety.

In 2011, the Puerto Rican Civil Rights Commission urged both the Puerto Rican and the United States Justice Departments to reopen the case to investigate the FBI for the use of excessive force in Ojeda Rios’ death.