Macheteros

Ejército Popular Boricua - Macheteros
Participant in clandestine operations
Logo of the Boricua Popular Army
Active	1976–present
Ideology	Puerto Rican independence Socialism Left-wing nationalism
Leaders	Filiberto Ojeda Ríos  † Comandante Guasábara Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer Orlando González Claudio
Area of operations	Puerto Rico, United States
Size	1,100–5,700
Originated as	Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña (FALN)
Opponents	Government of the United States

The Ejército Popular Boricua ("Boricua Popular/People's Army"), also known as Los Macheteros ("The Machete Wielders"), is a clandestine organization based in Puerto Rico, with cells in the states and other nations. It campaigns for, and supports, the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States.

During their first decade of existence, they had an average of two actions per year. The group claimed responsibility for the 1978 bombing of a small power station in the San Juan area, the 1979 retaliation attacks against the United States armed forces personnel, the 1981 attacks on Puerto Rico Air National Guard aircraft, and a 1983 Wells Fargo bank robbery.

Boricua Popular Army was led primarily by former FBI fugitive Filiberto Ojeda Ríos until his killing by the FBI in 2005. Ojeda Rios's killing was termed "an illegal killing" by the Government of Puerto Rico's Comision de Derechos Civiles (Civil Rights Commission) after a seven-year investigation and a 227-page report issued on 22 September 2011.

In a training manual dated March 21, 1995, the EPB argued that "in the past the people struggled against injustice without being able to identify the central maladies from which they originated", but that "thanks to [the advent] of Marxism now allowed [them] to identify the origin and reason [behind them]." This assertion would later be quoted when explaining the organization's strategy of "scientific Marxism", which they established as the main basis for their martial methodology. Ojeda Ríos's main thesis states that the 1898 invasion by the United States represented "meddling in the struggle" that the people "had been waging against Spanish colonialism for 400 years".

The name Machetero was symbolically adopted from an impromptu band of Puerto Ricans who assembled to defend the island of Puerto Rico from the invading forces of the United States Army during the Spanish–American War, between July 26 and August 12, 1898. Macheteros de Puerto Rico were dispatched throughout the island, working in cooperation with other voluntary groups including the Guardias de la Paz in Yauco and Tiradores de Altura in San Juan. These voluntary units were involved in most of the battles in the Puerto Rican Campaign. Their last involvement was in the Battle of Asomante, where along with units led by Captain Hernaíz, defended Aibonito Pass from invading units. The allied offensive was effective, prompting a retreat order from the American side. However, the following morning the signing of the Treaty of Paris was made public. Subsequently, both Spanish and Puerto Rican soldiers and volunteers disengaged and Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States.