A fugitive Puerto Rican nationalist was shot and killed by federal agents after he opened fire as they came to arrest him for a 1983 robbery of an armored truck in Connecticut, the FBI said Saturday.
Filiberto Ojeda Rios, 72, who had been on the run for 15 years and became a heroic figure for some in the Puerto Rican independence movement, opened fire on the agents Friday from a farmhouse in the western Puerto Rican town of Hormigueros, said Luis Fraticelli, the special agent in charge of the FBI for the US island territory. An FBI agent was wounded in the shootout.
"He opened the front door of his house and opened fire on the agents," Fraticelli said at a news conference amid protests from pro-independence Puerto Ricans who accused the FBI of mishandling the arrest.
"We went to arrest him but when the gunfire started we had to defend ourselves," Fraticelli said. "This was in self-defense."
Ojeda Rios had been on the run since 1990 when he cut off an electronic monitoring bracelet and went into hiding while awaiting trial for the robbery of US$7.2 million of the Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.
The robbery is considered an act of domestic terrorism because the money was used to fund activities by the Puerto Rican nationalist Macheteros, or Cane Cutters. Only about US$80,000 of the US$7 million has been recovered.
The FBI found Ojeda Rios' body Saturday with two bullet wounds to the shoulder, Fraticelli said. Ojeda Rios was wearing a bulletproof vest, and a gun was found by his side.
The agents waited until midday Saturday to enter the farmhouse because they were unsure if there were explosives inside, Fratecelli said. The agents, who had been staking out the farmhouse for four days, waited for a team trained in detecting explosives to arrive from Virginia.
Fraticelli said the FBI tried to persuade Ojeda Rios to surrender but negotiations fell apart in about a minute. He said the nationalist had demanded that a reporter be present, but the FBI refused, fearing the journalist could be taken hostage.
The FBI agents also arrested Ojeda Rios' wife, Elma Rosado Barbosa, who was unharmed. She was released without charge Saturday evening from a federal prison outside the capital of San Juan, said her lawyer, Julio Fontanet.
Independence activists hailed Rios as a martyr whose death would unify their splintered and marginalized movement.
"I always said that when they went to arrest him, they would have to kill him," said Juan Mari Bras, a veteran independence leader. "I am proud of his heroism and his valor."
More than 100 people protested outside the San Juan morgue as Ojeda Rios' body was brought inside.
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