Oscar López Rivera (born January 6, 1943) is a Puerto Rican independence activist who was one of the leaders of the FALN.
On August 11, 1981, López Rivera was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. On December 31, 1988 he was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for conspiring to escape from the Leavenworth federal prison.
~Wikipedia~
~Oscar Lopez Rivera to Be Freed After 36 Years in US Prison~
Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama commuted Lopez’ sentence, which will expire on May 17, according to a list of commutations announced by the White House.
Celebrations started almost immediately, while Clarissa López, daughter of López, will held a press conference in reaction to his release at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Oscar López Rivera is an Independentista, a Puerto Rican Nationalist and member of FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), an organization whose members declared themselves combatants against the US colonization of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently seized by the US in 1898, and has since been denied the right to self-govern. While Puerto Ricans vote in the primary, serve in the US armed forces, are required to register for selective service and can be drafted to fight in US wars, Puerto Ricans living on the island are not allowed to vote in presidential elections and have no voting representatives in the US Senate or Congress.
FALN claimed responsibility for more than 120 bomb attacks on banks, military sites and government facilities across the US between 1974 and 1980, which led to the 1980 arrest of 11 men and women for seditious conspiracy.
Although he was named a co-defendant in the case, Oscar López Rivera was not arrested until a year later, when he was picked up during a traffic stop, and also charged with seditious conspiracy, weapons possession and transporting stolen vehicles across state lines.
No evidence was ever found tying López Rivera to any of the bombings, and although he was not convicted of any violent crimes, he was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison. Later, an additional 15 years were added to his sentence for an alleged escape attempt.
He is now the longest-incarcerated Puerto Rican political prisoner, currently serving 70 years, including 12 in solitary confinement, even though the UN has condemned solitary confinement in excess of 15 days as a violation of human rights.
However, although there’s a growing movement calling for López Rivera’s release, the US government has classified him as a terrorist.
Puerto Ricans Push Obama to Free Oscar Lopez Rivera, Independence Activist Jailed for 35 Years
~~Published on Dec 23, 2016~~
Over 100,000 people have signed a petition urging President Obama to grant clemency to Puerto Rican independence activist Oscar López Rivera, who has been imprisoned for about 35 years, much of the time in solitary confinement.
In 1981, López Rivera was convicted on federal charges, including seditious conspiracy – conspiring to oppose U.S. authority over Puerto Rico by force. In 1999, President Bill Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 members of the FALN, but López Rivera refused to accept the deal because it did not include two fellow activists, who have since been released.
We speak to Oscar’s brother José López Rivera and Melissa Mark-Viverito, speaker of the New York City Council.
“It’s very difficult to do art in prison, because the limitations are enormous.”
The understated words of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera reflect both the realities of the U.S. prison-industrial complex and the challenges of a political prisoner making art a weapon of resistance.
To understand how Oscar developed as a renowned artist in such a poisonous environment, we examine his history.
Who is Oscar Lopez Rivera?
Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican political prisoner who has served more than 34 years in U.S. prisons, among the longest-held political prisoners on the planet. Convicted in 1981 of “seditious conspiracy” – that is, conspiring to use force against the authority of the United States over Puerto Rico – for his commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico, Oscar was not accused or convicted of causing harm or taking a life.
He is nevertheless serving a sentence of 70 years in the U.S. “gulag.” He is among the longest held political prisoners in world history, and is considered by many to be the Mandela of the 21st century.
Oscar López Rivera: Artist
In spite of 34 years of adversity in prison, Oscar has maintained his integrity, spirit, and political principles. He keeps fit, reads voraciously, stays up to date with current affairs, and writes.
The narrative of his life and years in prison, Between Torture and Resistance, created from letters to family, friends, and comrades, was published in 2013.
This Man Is Serving 75 Years for “Seditious Conspiracy”
Is He a Danger to Society?
Members of Congress, Nobel laureates, and the Puerto Rican government say 33 years was enough for Oscar López Rivera.
Now it’s up to Obama.
López Rivera himself seems guardedly optimistic. Every Saturday, Puerto Rico’s main newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, publishes letters from López Rivera to his granddaughter. Last November, he wrote:
The future for me is something unpredictable … Puerto Rico has changed. So has the Chicago of my adolescence.
Those nights when i stay awake thinking about my projects, I animate myself by telling myself that, at the end, I have survived 70+ years and I have walked beneath the shadow of death many times.
If a man has managed to survive this, how is he going to be afraid of the free air when it hits him in the face?
There is an innate feeling and desire in every human being to be free.
The place where one is born is sacred.
When your sensibilities are shaken by the continued injustices thrust upon your country, the wise, sensible soul knows it’s time to do something about it.
This is one such human being.
The actions he took were the only resort he had to continue attempts started by others to free Puerto Rico.
Look long and hard at the way “the Master” has treated it’s colony, the Island of Puerto Rico.
“Desperate times, desperate measures.”
The “powers that be” continue to conspire against him.
He’s been the longest held political prisoner in history.
Oscar López Rivera (born 6 January 1943) is a Puerto Rican nationalist and one of the leaders of the FALN
In 1981, López Rivera was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms, and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property. In 1988 he was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for conspiring to escape from prison.
López Rivera was among the 14 convicted FALN members offered conditional clemency by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1999, but rejected the offer. His sister, Zenaida López, said he refused the offer because on parole, he would be in “prison outside prison.”
Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, has stated that “the primary reason that López Rivera did not accept the clemency offer extended to him in 1999 was because it had not also been extended to fellow FALN prisoner Carlos Torres (who was subsequently released from prison in July 2010).”
According to New York Times writer John Broder, López Rivera “refused to accept the President’s offer to commute their sentences.
Mr. Clinton demanded as one of the conditions of their release that the jailed Puerto Ricans renounce the use of terrorism to achieve their aim of independence for the Caribbean commonwealth.”
The continued imprisonment of López Rivera has been both opposed as well as supported by groups and individuals representing political, religious, and other various establishments.
While some call him a terrorist, others call him as a political prisoner.
MAY 30TH 2015 NEW YORK CITY NATIONAL MARCH TO FREE OSCAR LOPEZ
The short film, Bring Him Home, is inspired by the campaign to free Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera. Imprisoned in the United States for over 3 decades on charges of seditious conspiracy. Oscar is the longest held political prisoner in Puerto Rican history.
Bring Him Home is based on a poem written by spoken word artist Reyes, with music by renowned producer DJ O-Zone. Produced by Reyes and Directed Samuel J. Vega, the film attempts to display the innocence of Oscar’s childhood by showing the beauty of his beloved nation, Puerto Rico, through his eyes.
Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican nationalist and one of the leaders of the FALN. In 1981, López Rivera was convicted and sentenced to 70 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms and ammunition to aid in the commission of a felony, and interstate transportation of stolen vehicles.
The imprisonment of López Rivera has been both opposed as well as supported by groups and individuals representing political, religious, and other various establishments. While some call him a terrorist, others see him as a political prisoner.
López Rivera was among the 14 convicted FALN members offered conditional clemency by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1999, but rejected the offer. His sister, Zenaida López, said he refused the offer because on parole, he would be in “prison outside prison.”
Congressman Pedro Pierluisi, has stated that “the primary reason that López Rivera did not accept the clemency offer extended to him in 1999 was because it had not also been extended to fellow independence prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres (who was subsequently released from prison in July 2010).
WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT, WHETHER WE ACCEPT IT OR NOT, PUERTO RICO IS A COLONY, A POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES.
“To love the homeland costs nothing, what would be costly is if we lose it. For any Puerto Rican who has doubts about how costly it would be if we lose our homeland, I suggest the person should visit the Navajos’ or the Lakotas’ reservations. Because there the person can see what happens to people who lose their homeland. We must face the truth and deal with it.
As Puerto Ricans we have to accept the fact Puerto Rico is a colony and that colonialism is unacceptable to most Puerto Ricans and most nations in the world.
If we accept this truth then we must be ready and prepared to kickstart a decolonization project.
This project must call for the unity of all the factions that make up the independence movement and of the progressive elements that see the need to create our own nation. A decolonization project goes beyond a CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. We have to make sure the US government and the international community (especially the Latin American countries) assume their responsibilities and commit themselves to help with the implementation of the project. We have to define the role the Puerto Rican diaspora is going to play.
We know any problem created by man has a solution. Colonialism is a man-created problem.
We also know we have the human resources in Puerto Rico and in the Puerto Rican diaspora to resolve this problem. We know that in almost a century of being a US colony, the development of our nation has been thwarted and derailed. We know we have a debt that will take many future generations to repay it. We can’t allow for future generations to inherit nothing but debt and social, political and economic problems.
Let’s face the problem of our colonial status.
Let’s work to find a solution for it. Let’s decolonize our minds and spirits and become real citizens of Puerto Rico.
For people who have said that I don’t want to come out of prison, I would like to suggest they pay attention to what I have said during all the years I have been in the gulags and some of the history of our political prisoners. The fact that I’m the Puerto Rican political prisoner who has spent more time in prison doesn’t erase the fact that other Puerto Ricans political prisoners have spent almost as many years as I have.
For example, Carlos Alberto Torres spent over 30 years in prison and Don Oscar Collazo Lopez spent 29 years. Rafael Cancel Miranda spent 27 years, and Lolita Lebron and Irving Flores Rodriguez spent 25 and Andres Figueroa Cordero spent 24. Many of the compañeros(as) who came out of prison when Clinton allowed them to be released in 1999 spent over 19 years and the others over 16 years. That’s a lot of years spent by Puerto Rican political prisoners.
If we were to ask any of the above-mentioned political prisoners if they wanted to come out of prison their answer would be on the affirmative. None of us wanted to be in prison in the first place and none of us have entertained the absurd idea of staying in prison. Before coming to prison I had a life full of great experiences. I enjoyed and celebrated that life. And while in prison, in spite of it been the most dehumanizing, toxic and hostile environment any human being can experience, I still feel I have had a life and that I can celebrate all my life for all the great things it has given me. I don’t have hatred or fear in my heart and i do want to leave prison with my honor, my dignity and my spirit intact, safe and sound.
I believe the truth will survive and prevail just like our just and noble cause has been able to do for centuries. iI’m a Puerto Rican and I don’t want to be anything else. But I consider myself also a citizen of this universe we live in. I believe a better and more just world is possible and that’s one of the main reason I chose to struggle for the independence of my homeland. I say “woe to him/her who has no homeland”.
Entre el 23 al 26 de diciembre de 2011 el colectivo Vanguardia Artística Revolucionaria se dio a la tarea de crear un mural para el preso político más antiguo de occidente, el puertorriqueño, Oscar López Rivera.
Between the 23 through the 26th of December 2011, a group of young Puerto Ricans decided to paint a mural for the longest held political prisoner. His brother and a freed prisoner expose their feelings.
It Is What It Is 