Filiberto Ojeda Rios - US agents altered scene of assassination

CASE OF FILIBERTO OJEDA?S DEATH REAPPEARS WITH FORCE
Jes?s D?vila (Translation by Jan Susler)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, August 19, 2009 (NCM) ?
Agents of the United States altered the scene of
the death of the Macheteros commander Filiberto
Ojeda on September 24, 2005, in the presence of
functionaries of the government of Puerto Rico ,
according to newly available statements from witnesses to the bloody event.
The revelations are not limited to the manner in
which they removed objects from the home on the
day after they killed the commander of the
Boricua Popular Army?Macheteros, with the
forensic investigators doing nothing to avoid it
or include it in the final report. In addition,
an expert witness said that the flow of blood
indicated that the body was moved before taking
photographs de rigueur prior to removing the body.

The new information emerges, however, in moments
when the thorny topic has become a sort of taboo
for various sectors of the country. The lack of
interest is illustrated by the Bar Association?
which at one point conducted its own
investigation into the event? and which has
maintained silence in the face of a request for a
reaction to the verified fact that the Department
of Justice altered the final investigation report
to eliminate the part where its attorneys affirmed that it was a murder case.
But the new revelations, as well as the silences,
indicate that the case of Ojeda?s death is a very
volatile matter, the evocation of which continues
to inflame passions among many people in this
island nation which has been a colony of the U.S.
since 1898. These passions also emerge when the
White House maintains contacts with the pro U.S.
parties to review the political condition of
Puerto Rico, and there are no indications that
independentistas are included in the consults taking place in Washington .
All this contrasts with the Latin American scene,
where the figure of Filiberto Ojeda continues to
be a convening force, and as recently as this
month served as one of the motives for the
emergence of the first committee to support the
independence of Puerto Rico by citizens of
Nicaragua. This marks a change, as normally such
independentista committees outside of Puerto Rico
are formed mainly by Puerto Ricans in the diaspora.
Currently, the only official investigation in
progress into Ojeda?s death is the one being
conducted by the governmental Civil Rights
Commission, but this entity has made no
announcement to indicate whether it has had
access to new witnesses. What little is known is
that the CRC continues making efforts to bring to
Puerto Rico an expert in ballistics, which would
indicate that they are still trying to figure out
the trajectory of the fatal bullet shot by the
agent identified only as ?Brian,? of the commando
group that assaulted Ojeda?s house on September 23, 2005.
One of the key pieces for the prosecutors to be
able to determine that it was an assassination
was the decision that from the beginning of the
operation, Brian was seeking the angle for the
fatal shot, and that he fired the three shots
into the front door of the house during the first
shooting. Establishing with certainty the
trajectory of the last shots could clarify many
of the aspects which still remain unexplained.

The attack of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation?s HRT (Hostage Rescue Team)
commando group aborted a process of dialogue
which Ojeda had been having for several years
through the Catholic church, in which he was
exploring the possibility of a pacific procedure
for the U.S. to concede independence to Puerto
Rico . The Catholic prelate responsible for the
dialogue made this known to the FBI.
Ojeda suffered a slow agony and bled to death,
while the agents who surrounded his house refused
to allow assistance. His body was found by Puerto
Rican forensic experts who entered the house the
next day, accompanied by FBI agents. At that
time, photos were taken of Ojeda, face down with
his head next to the living room door.

The new expert testimony reveals the detection of
significant blood flow toward the back, instead
of toward the chest, which indicates that during
his agony he could have been face up, and not how
he was found when the FBI allowed the forensic photographer to enter.

The second testimony is equally if not more
serious. According to the source who had direct
access to the statements, the witnesses said that
when it was already assumed that the scene was
sealed for forensic examination, members of the
U.S. ERT (Evidence Recovery Team) began to remove
objects from inside the house, right in front of
the Puerto Rican investigators.

There were so many objects removed that,
according to the source, it has become virtually
impossible to determine where the shots landed inside the house.

The preservation of a crime scene is a basic,
routine procedure of forensic investigation, and
even more so if police agents are the object of
the investigation of the case. In fact, the
Puerto Rico Department of Justice took
responsibility for assuring, in presenting its
final report on the case, that it had been
determined that the scene was not altered by U.S. agents.

One of the most delicate aspects in the entire
affair is determining exactly what was the Puerto
Rico government?s participation in the whole
case, as in February of 2005, it delivered to the
FBI the investigative file, which noted the exact
coordinates of the place where Ojeda?s house was
located. During the assault, the Puerto Rican
government used its police forces to set up a
perimeter of protection for the FBI agents, and
cut the electricity to the sector, among other logistical support.