Political prisoner friday is back at SCISSION. I believe it is of utmost importance that we never forget our POWs and political prisoners. They are a part of us. We should all be doing what we can to support them and to help gain their freedom.
The struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico has produced scores of male and female heroes. Oscar Lopez Rivera is one of them. Oscar is serving 70 years in the prisons of his islands colonizers and masters. The Denver Black Cross writes:
In 1975, Oscar was forced underground, along with other comrades. The FBI claimed that he was one of the leaders of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), a Puerto Rican nationalist clandestine group that fought for the independence of Puerto Rico. Oscar has neither confirmed nor denied his involvement in FALN and out of principle has refused to denounce armed struggle as a legitimate means to gaining independence.
On May 29, 1981 Oscar was captured in Chicago after five years underground. Oscar was found guilty on five counts involving seditious conspiracy, armed robbery, weapons violations and interstate transportation of stolen property. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Political Prisoner Status
At the time of their arrest Lopez Rivera and the others declared themselves to be combatants in an anti-colonial war against the United States to liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domination and invoked prisoner of war status. They argued that the U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction to try them as criminals and petitioned for their cases to be handed over to an international court that would determine their status. The U.S. Government, however, did not recognize their request.
The sentences received by Lopez Rivera and the other Nationalists were judged to be “out of proportion to the nationalists’ offenses.” Statistics showed their sentences were almost 20 times greater than sentences for similar offenses by the American population at large.
For many years, numerous national and international organizations criticized Lopez Rivera’ incarceration categorizing it as political imprisonment. His disproportionate sentence, the targeting of him and others by the FBI beforehand, the nebulous charges of conspiracy, the political nature of the charges made against Oscar, and the intentional isolation and long-term confinement he has endured all make it clear that Oscar Lopez Rivera is not simply a prisoner, but a political prisoner.
FREE OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA
The following is from the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign.
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Oscar Lopez Rivera was born in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico on January 6, 1943. At the age of 12, he moved to Chicago with his family. He was a well-respected community activist and a prominent independence leader for many years prior to his arrest. Oscar was one of the founders of the Rafael Cancel Miranda High School, now known as the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School and the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center. He was a community organizer for the Northwest Community Organization (NCO), ASSPA, ASPIRA and the 1st Congregational Church of Chicago. He helped to found FREE, (a half-way house for convicted drug addicts) and ALAS (an educational program for Latino prisoners at Stateville Prison in Illinois).
He was active in various community struggles, mainly in the area of health care, employment and police brutality. He also participated in the development of the Committee to Free the Five Puerto Rican Nationalists. In 1975, he was forced underground, along with other comrades. He was captured on May 29, 1981, after 5 years of being persecuted by the FBI as one of the most feared fugitives from US "justice".
Oscar, who has a daughter named Clarissa, is currently serving a 55-year sentence for seditious conspiracy and other charges. He was convicted of conspiracy to escape along with Jaime Delgado, (a veteran independence leader), Dora Garcia, (a prominent community activist) and Kojo Bomani-Sababu, a New Afrikan political prisoner.
Oscar was one of 12 Puerto Rican political prisoners offered some form of leniency by the Clinton Administration in the fall of 1999. According to the Chicago Sun Times, he "declined the president's offer, which still would have him left with 10 years to serve on conspiracy to escape charges. Now he faces at least 20 more years in prison. His sister, Zenaida Lopez, said he turned the offer down because he would be on parole. 'Accepting what they are offering him is like prison outside of prison,' she said. Zenaida Lopez said her brother 'was in total agreement' with the decision of the 11 others to take the conditional clemency." Oscar is presently in prison in Terre Haute, Indiana and his release date is 7/27/2027.
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Before you write the prisoners:
It is important to know that it takes time for your letter to reach a prisoner and to receive a response from him or her. If you do not receive a quick response, do not give up!! Continue to write to him or her until you receive a response.
If you are going to send a prisoner money for his or her commissary, it must be in the form of a money order (Postal or Western Union) with their name and prisoner number. Do not send cash and avoid sending them personal checks.
If you are going to send them reading materials (Books or magazines); you must make sure that it is a paperback edition. If you are sending a magazine you must remove all the staples and metal clips. The envelope you send it in must have the staples and metal clips removed as well.
Oscar Lopez Rivera
#87651-024
FCI Terre Haute
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN, 47808
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Before you send money to the Prisoners:
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has changed the guidelines for sending federal prisoners commissary. If anyone wants to send money to our patriots, it must be sent to the following address and in the following manner:
Federal Bureau of Prisons
(Prisoner’s name and Prison Number)
PO Box 474701
Des Moines IA 50947-0001
You must send all funds to the mailing address (above) and adhere to the following instructions:
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will only approve/accept the following items, which it calls “Negotiable instruments”: Money Orders, government checks, Foreign Negotiable Instruments or Business checks. NOTE: No Personal Checks; they will be sent back to you.
Print the prisoner’s committed name and register number (prison number) on the funds.
The name and return address of the sender must appear in the upper left hand corner of the envelope to ensure that funds can be returned when necessary.
Don’t send items other than funds top the above provided address. The BOP will discard letters, pictures and anything else you send.
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6 comments:
Hi,
It's time to end this abuse!
Support the Decolonization of Puerto Rico.
José
www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com
Saludos,
Tenemos que trabajar juntos para descolonizar a Puerto Rico y excarcelar a Oscar López Rivera. Únete a 2 protestas pacificas anualmente hasta lograrlo.
Un abrazo,
José
http://www.todosunidosdescolonizarpr.blogspot.com/
Greetings Partner,
We will have a peaceful protest on Saturday, November 23rd in Puerto Rico for the liberation of our patriot and political prisoner Oscar López Rivera. Click on the link below for more information.
Un abrazo,
José
www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com
Dear Partners,
Join The First Oscar – Mandela Protest in Puerto Rico on Saturday, March 22, 2014, on the Abolition of Slavery Day, to peacefully protest for the decolonization of Puerto Rico and the release of our political prisoner Oscar López Rivera. It is the perfect day to protest the enslavement of Puerto Rico by the government of the United States.
We will march from the Roosevelt Avenue Urban Train Station at 2 PM to the United States Court in Puerto Rico on Chardón Street in Hato Rey.
If you belong to any particular group, feel free to bring your flags and signs to our protest. We want it to be a collective effort involving everyone who believes that colonialism is a crime against humanity and a threat to world peace. We need to have as many people as possible, because those who practice or accept colonialism, don’t believe in justice for all!
Un abrazo,
José
www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com
Dear Partner,
Now that the First Oscar – Mandela March in Puerto Rico is history, we can now begin to work on making an even bigger success of The First Oscar Mandela Protest in New York City. This year’s Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City a week before our protest will be dedicated to our political prisoner Oscar López Rivera.
On Monday, June 23, 2014, the United Nations (UN) will be discussing again Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States. The UN is in its third decade trying to eradicate colonialism from the world, because of the belief that it constitutes a threat to world peace. Since this date is a week later than usual, our committee decided to have 2 protests this year.
On the Monday, June 16, 2014, the day after Fathers’ Day, we will have our first protest in the park across from the UN on 46th Street and First Avenue from 8 AM to 5 PM to show the world that we too believe that colonialism is a crime against humanity. On the same day of the hearing, Monday June 23, we will have the second one. We will have a press conference in New York City to inform the public of the latest details of these event. We will need as many people at the protest as possible to make the government of the United States (US) comply with the 32 UN resolutions asking the US to decolonize immediately Puerto Rico. After this many resolutions, it is obvious that the US does not want to.
President Obama recently showed the government of the United States’ hypocrisy about human rights. In his memorial ceremony speech, he had only praise for Nelson Mandela. He, however, has refused, despite the enormous pressure from Puerto Rico and the rest of the world, to release from prison Oscar López Rivera who is doing exactly what Mandela did. Oscar has already spent 6 more years in prison than the 27 that Mandela served. The US is happy when other countries decolonize their colonies, but the US wants to keep hers. What kind of democracy is this? Obviously, those who have colonies don’t believe in justice for all.
Please tell your friends about this important protest for Oscar López Rivera’s release from prison, and to achieve what he has spent his life on, the decolonization of Puerto Rico.
We will have a sheet of paper so that whoever who wants to get involved in the planning of this yearly permanent event in New York City can provide us with your contact information. If you wish, you can also email me right now at jlop28vislophis@yahoo.com.
We look forward to greeting old and new partners in our struggle to provide real justice for all!
Sincerely,
José M López Sierra
www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com
Because, rights are not requested, they are demanded!
To town with Oscar our National Hero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pZPBlxJzqg
Click on the above link to watch a video about this project.
Our partner, reporter and political activist Edwin Chungo Molina is promoting an interesting campaign to force the United States (US) government to release Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera.
Oscar has served 34 years in a US prison for exercising his inalienable right to use all means necessary to decolonize Puerto Rico.
The US government is the criminal for ignoring 34 United Nations (UN) resolutions asking it to immediately decolonize Puerto Rico. In 1960, the UN determined democratically that colonialism is a crime against humanity because it threatens world peace.
The fact that the US government refuses to release Oscar despite overwhelming local and international support is evidence that it wants to keep Puerto Rico as its colony forever!
United Partners for Puerto Rico Decolonization joins InformacionAlDesnudo in this project of permanent mobilization in all of Puerto Rico’s 78 town squares to protest for Oscar’s release.
Starting on January 29, 2016, we will be at the Bayamón Town Square from 2 to 4 PM to begin our permanent and peaceful protest. Join us, and bring your flags and signs to increase the pressure to the necessary level that will force this government to listen to the people like it is supposed to do in a democracy!
If you would like to be the contact person for your town, please contact Edwin Chungo Molina at 561-758-7509 or molinagrn@gmail.com. Everyone is welcome! www.TodosUnidosDescolonizarPR.blogspot.com
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