Oscar Lopez Rivera

Gutierrez, Aldermen Push For Release Of Ex-faln Leader

... although Lopez’ supporters argue he was never convicted of personally hurting anyone. Lopez celebrated his 74 th birthday just last week at the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Institution, where Gutierrez and the governor of Puerto Rico have been among a bevy of politicians paying their respects in recent years. His case has become a cause celebre in Puerto Rico, galvanizing the island’s divergent political forces in a joint call for his release. The Puerto Rican community in the U. S. has also taken up the campaign. Follow @Mark Brown CST. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and original star of “Hamilton,” made a personal plea to Obama this summer to commute Lopez’ sentence. The New York City Council passed a resolution seeking his release. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders joined the fray during his Democratic presidential campaign, calling upon Obama to “Let him out!” during a campaign appearance in Puerto Rico. Since then, former President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have made similar requests. Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26 th) said his trip to Washington in support of Lopez is partly personal. The alderman said his ...

Pardon Sought For Prisoner Who Fought For Puerto Rican Independence

... López Rivera, center, jailed in the United States, during an event celebrating Revolution Day in Santiago, Cuba, on July 26, 2015. Ramon Espinosa/AP. Celebrities, politicians and activists, ranging from Bernie Sanders to Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, are asking President Obama to grant clemency to a man who was part of a militant group that fought for Puerto Rican independence. Oscar López Rivera has been in federal prison since 1981, convicted for "seditious conspiracy" to overthrow the the government of the United States, in relation to his membership in the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, or FALN. Between 1974 and 1983, the FALN claimed responsibility for more than 70 bombings in New York, Chicago and Washington, D. C. The bombings caused millions in property damage, dozens of injuries and five deaths. López ...

Some Big Names Got A Measure Of Mercy From President Obama

... the Haute Living New York City Real Estate Summit on Nov. 14, 2013 in New York City. Craig Barritt / Getty Images for Haute Living. Dwight Loving, one of the few members of the U. S. military on Death Row, had his sentence commuted to life without parole. He had been convicted of killing two taxicab drivers in 1988 while he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. He has been on death row for more than 27 years. Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez , who was serving 55 years in prison for plotting to overthrow the U. S. government and an additional 15 years for conspiring to escape from Leavenworth federal prison, had his sentence commuted. The 74-year-old former leader of the FALN movement will be released by May 17. People march to demand the release of Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera near the White House in Washington, DC, on January 11, 2017. NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP - Getty Images. Not on Obama's list of people receiving pardons was David Petreaus, a four star general and former CIA director who in 2015 was sentenced to two years probation and a ...

Barack Obama's Decision Awaited On Oscar López Rivera

... prisoner of conscience. Soto compared his efforts with those of Boston Tea Party patriots. Even those who oppose López’s specific cause of national independence for Puerto Rico find him symbolizing their frustration at being second-class, under a political status imposed on the island. “It’s important because it has a lot to do with Puerto Rico’s identity: as a U. S. territory we’ve been in the crossroads of our identities as Puerto Ricans or Americans,” said Orlando activist Phillip Arroyo, a former Obama White House intern who founded the Coalition for Puerto Rico Justice. “It’s a matter of justice and identity.”. “The overwhelming majority of the people of Puerto Rico, political leaders from all major political parties on the island, numerous members of the U. S. Congress including the congressional Hispanic Caucus, ...

Chelsea Manning, Oscar Lopez Rivera And Others To Get Shortened, Reprieved Sentences

... (Eastern District of Kentucky). Sentence:  One year of imprisonment; four years' supervised release (February 14, 1992) (as amended January 8, 1993). Ronald Earl Green – Cameron, SC. Offense:  Interstate transportation of property obtained by fraud (District of South Carolina). Sentence:  Three years' probation, conditioned upon four months' home confinement (November 15, 2002). Billy Lynn Greene – Oilton, OK. Offense:  Unlawful disposal of hazardous waste without a permit and causing a criminal act (Northern District of Oklahoma). Sentence:  Five years' probation; $7,500 fine (June 1, 1999). Peter Dwight Heidgerd – East Point, GA. Offense:  Conduct unbecoming an officer (United States Army general court-martial convened at Fort Gordon, Georgia). Sentence:  Forfeiture of all pay and allowances; confinement for one year; dismissal from service (July 17, 1989). Fred ...

Puerto Ricans Push Obama To Free Oscar López Rivera, Independence Activist Jailed For 35 Years

... have you gotten word back from the White House. JOSÉ LÓPEZ RIVERA: No, we have got no word from the White House. This is probably the most insular presidency that we’ve dealt with. I’ve been involved in campaigns to free Puerto Rican political prisoners since the '70 s. I was involved in the campaign to free the nationalists under Carter and to free the other political prisoners under Clinton. And usually we get some idea months before that something positive is going to happen. With this presidency, nothing has ever—we've heard absolutely nothing. I also want to just point out that, obviously, this has taken a toll on the family. As Melissa so wonderfully said, my brother is—from him emanates an incredible sense of peace, an incredible sense of justice and compassion. But this process has taken its toll on my family. My mother died almost 20 years ago from Alzheimer’s. She was never able to see him or to touch ...

Puerto Ricans Cheer Commutation For Nationalist Oscar Lopez

... Indiana. The group's most notorious bombing occurred at New York's landmark Fraunces Tavern in 1975 that killed four people and injured more than 60. Lopez was not convicted of any role in that attack, but some still hold him responsible because of his ties to the ultranationalist group. "I'm willing to forgive, but he never once said he was sorry, showed no remorse at all," said Mary Connor Tully, whose husband, Frank Connor, was killed in the bombing. "He's an old man and he'll get to live his life free, and hopefully he can live with the sins he committed, and that he'll answer one day to a higher power than us for what he did.". Lopez, whose release also was opposed by several groups including a national police organization, is now scheduled to be freed May 17. "He wants to live in Puerto Rico, and people there really want him to come home," Susler said. Lopez was offered clemency by President Bill Clinton in 1999, but he rejected the offer because it excluded two comrades who have since been released. Then in 2011, the U. S. Parole Commission denied his request for an early release. Among those who publicly supported Lopez's release was ...

Otra De Las Sentencias Conmutadas Por Obama

... sediciosa; interferencia con comercio interestatal por medio de amenazas o violencia; posesión/porte de un arma sin registro; porte de armas durante la comisión de crímenes violentos; transporte interestatal de armas con la intención de cometer crímenes violentos; transporte interestatal de vehículos robados/hurtados. Luego, el 26 de febrero de 1988, fue sentenciado a otros 15 años por las conductas de conspirar para escapar, transportar explosivos con la intención de matar o herir personas y destruir edificios y propiedades del gobierno, favorecer incendios provocados en el comercio interestatal y usar un teléfono para continuar con el incendio. Rubén Berrios, presidente del Partido independentista puertorriqueño, explicó a CNN en Español que López "ya había servido casi 35 años en cárcel, por la libertad de su patria. Por lo tanto, para el pueblo puertorriqueño entero y particularmente para los que luchamos por la independencia de Puerto Rico esto es un momento de júbilo, de alborozo, ...

Will Obama Grant Clemency To Puerto Rican Independence Activist Oscar López Rivera

... a member of Congress when you went to petition him for a pardon, and he would talk about the political situation, as the rest of his staff. Unfortunately, Obama isn’t quite as forthright and as open in talking about these issues. But today we will stand, and I’m so happy that you put Oscar López’s case in. Yes, so what President Clinton did in 1999, and he said, "I’m releasing 12 of them." And he offered a release to Oscar López, but there was a 13 th, and Oscar López said, "Until all of us are released, I cannot accept the release." And so he remained in jail. AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to—I wanted to end the show with Reverend Barber responding to the farewell address of President Obama. REV. WILLIAM BARBER: Well, thank you so much, Amy. And I want to say, really quickly, I do believe—just jumping back a little bit—that Senator Sessions still believes in assaulting women, because he refused to stand by Loretta Lynch and blocked both of the ...

Puerto Rican Activists Push For Oscar López Rivera's Freedom

... Barack Obama completes his last days in office, Bernie Sanders is sticking to his plea for Rivera’s freedom through  Our Revolution. The call to #Free Oscar Lopez is a cause close to Sen. Sanders’ heart. @POTUS , give the Puerto Rican people the gift of welcoming Oscar home. __link__/o 2 rzlrw WGp. — Our Revolution (@Our Revolution) January 5, 2017. “The first questions that often people say is ‘What did he do?’ Well he didn’t do anything,” Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulín Cruz tells the organization. “He didn’t steal anything. He didn’t bomb anything. He didn’t hurt anyone. The sheer injustice of it because it’s so un-American. It’s so un-American to put someone in prison for thinking about freedom.”. READ: Puerto Rico’s Ineligibility To Vote In Presidential Elections Reeks Of Colonial Rule. Rapper and activist Residente echoes how critical his release is to Puerto Ricans. “In Puerto Rico, his liberation is a fight that has united the nation, ...

Puerto Rican Prisoner Oscar López Rivera To Be Freed

... unconditional pardon. “We want to congratulate Oscar Lopez Rivera on his new freedom coming up in May and appreciate his long-term fight for Puerto Ricans,” Soto said. “We also want to thank President Barack Obama for doing the right thing.”. Another Orlando supporter, Phillip Arroyo, a Democratic activist who petitioned the White House on behalf of his group, Coalition for Puerto Rico Justice, for Lopez’s release, called it a very emotional day. “We did it!” Arroyo said. “Oscar will go down in history as Puerto Rico’s version of Nelson Mandela. As a Puerto Rican who worked at the White House, I am so proud of President Obama who has once again showed his compassion and his courage to stand up for justice. Oscar will soon be back in our homeland of Puerto Rico, where he rightfully belongs.”. More than 108,000 people who signed an online petition calling for López’s release. Gutiérrez office announced late Tuesday afternoon that it had received word from the White House that López will be released unconditionally after 120 more days in prison. The clemency not only releases him but wipes clean his record of ...

Puerto Ricans Call For Obama To Free Imprisoned Nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera

... Mandela was incarcerated in South Africa.”. Lopez, the executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, is part of an effort to get President Barack Obama to commute his brother’s sentence. “That effort is a massive, massive international campaign,” Lopez said. “My brother has been held since 1981.”. Lopez Rivera is the last of more than a dozen imprisoned Puerto Rican independence supporters convicted of seditious conspiracy in the 1980 s. Lopez Rivera was said to be a member of the FALN, a Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation. The group came about in the early ’70 s and claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings , primarily in New York City and Chicago. The bombings killed at least five people and injured more than 70 others. But supporters of Lopez Rivera said he was not charged with killing or injuring anyone. In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered Lopez Rivera clemency, but he turned ...