Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

410 • MADRID BOMBINGS OF 11 MARCH 2004Macheteros leaders in Puerto Rico on 30 August 1985. Despite thiscrackdown, the Macheteros were responsible for nine of the 10 terroristattacks occurring in Puerto Rico in 1986, although seven ofthese attacks failed to achieve their objective.The last major Macheteros leader remaining at large and active inPuerto Rico, namely, Filiberto Ojeda-Rios, who had been arrestedin Puerto Rico in 1985 as one of the principals of the Wells Fargoheist, jumped bond while awaiting trial in September 1990. In 1992the state of Connecticut tried and convicted him in absentia for theWells Fargo robbery and sentenced him to 55 years in prison. On23 September 2005 the FBI cornered Ojeda-Rios in Hormigueros,Puerto Rico, leading to a shoot-out in which the Macheteros leaderwas killed. Others who were indicted in the Wells Fargo robbery remainat large, including Victor Gerena, a Wells Fargo employee, forwhom the FBI is offering a $1 million reward for information leadingto his arrest and conviction. The last known Machetero action was on9 June 1998, when they made two attacks on branches of the BancoPopular, striking one with a pipe bomb and shooting through thedoors of another, as a protest against privatization policies being pursuedby the Puerto Rican government. Although the group had fewactive members, it enjoyed great sympathy among the island’s 3.9million inhabitants, who have shown reluctance to assist in revealingthe whereabouts of other members of the group.MADRID BOMBINGS OF 11 MARCH 2004. Also referred to as“3/11” or “M-11” in Spain, this event consisted of 10 bombings offour commuter trains that killed 191 people and injured some 2,050others. The bombs consisted of backpacks filled with military-qualityexplosives or dynamite, nails, and other shrapnel and were detonatedby cell phones rather than by suicide bombers. Three other unexplodedbombs were detected and were neutralized by bomb-disposal teamsand later analyzed for evidence. On the day of the attack, responsibilitywas claimed in the name of the Abu Hafs al Masri Brigade, whilethe mode of simultaneous bombings aimed at producing mass civiliancasualties seemed to point to al Qa’eda, or to a group inspired by alQa’eda. The presumed motivation of these Islamic fundamentalistswas to punish Spain for its role as part of the U.S.-led coalition that invadedIraq in April 2003. It was the worst bombing in Spanish history,surpassing even the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) bombing