Alderman Roberto Maldonado, along with local business owners, pastors, community organizations and community members, including the Puerto Rican Cultural Center's Executive Director, José E. López, held a press conference Wednesday, May 1st to address the murder that occurred this past Sunday outside a private club located at 2504 W. Division St. 

 

The alderman stressed that despite his desire to shut down this private club, his hands are tied. He said he and the police could do nothing because of an odd loophole in the law that allows the club to operate as a state-chartered private social club. Chicago police have no jurisdiction to enter the establishment unless a call of a fight or incident was made from inside the club. Otherwise they had to treat it like a private residence and could not go in if denied entry. 

 

Maldonado announced that he intended to create a city ordinance to require that such state-chartered social clubs obtain some type of permit from the city to operate as a way to ensure that these types of establishments are better regulated. 

 

This Friday, May 1st a private lunch will be held at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) with Dr. James Oliver, senior advisor to University of Illinois President, Robert A. Easter, and key stakeholders in the community. 

 

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the relationship between the University of Illinois and the community's efforts to improve the education system in Humboldt Park. Also to be discussed is how the University of Illinois can better serve Latino communities. Following the lunch, Dr. Oliver will visit key educational institutions including Pedro Albizu Campos High School, Roberto Clemente High School and Wright College's Humboldt Park Vocational Education Center.

 

We need volunteers for the "Guard" position! 

 

 

GET INVOLVED, be a guard for a day! 

CHALLENGE & EDUCATE YOUR FRIENDS

 

COLLABORATE with our interactive exhibit where YOU, for 24 hours, can re-create the inhumane conditions Oscar López Rivera has lived for the last 32 years.

 

REACH through the prison walls & SAY NO TO INJUSTICE

 

For more information or to get involved please contact Matt McCanna at mattm@boricuahumanrights.org or 708-953-8351

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are proud recipients of United Way contributions 

To Oscar López and the López family, on the passing of Lydia López, 77 years old, wife of Oscar's paternal grandfather.

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center- Vida/SIDA is one of several organizations nationwide to receive funding from Be the Generation Bridge to help increase awareness and knowledge of biomedical HIV prevention research, which includes HIV vaccines, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), microbicides, and many others.

 

Treatment as Prevention (TaP)

TaP involves the regular use of antiretrovirals (drugs to treat HIV) by HIV-positive individuals to help reduce their viral load and, as a result, reduce their risk of transmitting the HIV virus to others. 

 

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) medications work to reduce the amount of virus (viral load) in a person's blood increasing the overall health of a person living with HIV.  Research has also shown that HIV positive people with low or undetectable viral loads are less likely to transmit the virus to others compared to HIV positive people with high viral loads. Knowing when to start a HIV positive person on ART medication is a complicated question because of the high costs of the drugs, concerns about adherence developing resistance, and drug side effects. 

College Shadow Day at Columbia College Chicago

On Thursday, May 2nd the College Pipeline at Roberto Clemente Community Academy will be hosting a College Shadow Say at Columbia College Chicago. Eleven Clemente High School students who have been accepted to Columbia will be shadowing college students to get an idea of what an average day for a student at Columbia is like. Through this process our students will receive an organic experience that will shape their perception of post-secondary education. The pipeline is meant to prepare our students both academically and mentally for post-secondary education. A number of students from Clemente High School have received scholarships to attend Columbia including Alfredo Huerta and Edwin Diaz, who both received a $28,000 scholarship, and Sabrina Cintrón, who received a $32,000 scholarship.

The National Boricua Human Rights Network will be opening an online store in time for the Peoples Parade in June. It will have "Oscar López Rivera: Between Torture and Resistance", a CD collection of songs authored by some of Puerto Rico's most well-known singer-songwriters was also available for sale. "La Vida Es Lucha Toda" tributo a Oscar López Rivera features Roy Brown and Zoraida Santiago, Tony Mapeyé, Lucecita Benítez and Haciendo Punto en otro Son.

The book is available for $15.95 plus s/h and the CD for $12 plus s/h. The classic Oscar T-shirt (image left), are $10 each, plus shipping and handling, and is available in various sizes. The button (same image) is $1. 

 

To get your copy, contact alejandrom@boricuahumanrights.org. Each copy is $15.95 plus shipping & handling. The Oscar CD is also available and costs $12 plus s/h. 

In a re-creation of a cell with the same 6x9 dimensions that Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera has endured, 32 Puerto Rican popular personalities will voluntarily submit to a symbolic imprisonment for an hour or more. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, the day on which Oscar was arrested and begins his 32nd year of imprisonment. This project will last 24 hours. This project is being organized by Dr. Fernando Cabanillas, Myrta Cabanillas, attorney José Juan Nazario, and attorney Federico Comas, among others.

 

The prison cells will be located in the municipalities of San Juan, Caguas, Arecibo, Ponce and Mayagüez. Some of the 56 persons who confirmed their participation as of today are:

* Attorney Carlos Gallisá

* Néstor Duprey

 * Attorney Ignacio Rivera

* Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulin Cruz

* Prof. Mayra Montero

* Franciscan Father Ángel Darío Carrero

* Senator José Nadal Power

* Artist Nick Quijano

* Dr. José A. Vargas Vidot

* Atilano Cordero Badillo

* Clarisa López (Oscar's daughter)

For more information

The CIRILO W. MEIJERS Comerio Cultural Center has dedicated its 33rd FESTIVAL JIBARO COMERIEÑO (June 7-9) to the Puerto Rican community of Chicago, represented by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center Juan Antonio Corretjer of Chicago. In addition, they recognize that the tribute would not be complete without dedicating the festival also to Oscar López Rivera. In this spirit they have organized a "Committee to Free Oscar", which has already published a call urging the townspeople to become involved in the campaign to free Puerto Rico's longest held political prisoner.

need. Vida/SIDA needs your support. The day is soon approaching and we need you to help us in reaching our fundraising goal to continue providing you

with our great services.

 

To donate, please click here and donate online.

 

If you so desire, you can also write a check to us and mail it or deposit your cash in our donation box at 2703 W Division St., Chicago, IL 60622. We are counting on you!

 

Rummage Sale Saturday's 10-2PM to support El Rescate, transitional living home of Vida/SIDA.

 

 

BY 80GRADOS

April 27, 2013

 

In unyielding solidarity with Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera and his right to freedom, 32 women will demonstrate at the Dos Hermanos Bridge the last Sunday of every month, starting April 28, to remind the Puerto Rican people that they cannot rest until they win Oscar's return to his homeland.

 

 

"Oscar López Rivera will have served 32 years in prison on May 29," said the spokespeople for the group of women called 32 X Oscar. "All that time in United States prisons for aspiring and struggling for the freedom of his Homeland. Such a long, arbitrary and unjust sentence makes him one the prisoners held the longest for ideological reasons in the hemisphere. His imprisonment has lasted longer than what the admired Nelson Mandela suffered as a result of his commitment against apartheid in South Africa."

 

Starting tomorrow, Sunday, April 28, '32 X Oscar' will unite women the last Sunday of every month in a brief activity (32 minutes) for the purpose of joining the many efforts and initiatives being developed in Puerto Rico, the United States and other parts of the world, so that president Barack Obama grants a presidential pardon to this Puerto Rican born in San Sebastián del Pepino.

 

Among the participants in the vigil are notably the presence of Clarisa López, López Rivera's only daughter; attorney María Dolores Fernós; ex-political prisoners Alicia and Lucy Rodríguez; attorney Josefina Pantoja; and actresses Cristina Soler and Idalia Pérez Garay.

 

According the group's spokespeople, anyone interested in joining the activity can participate, but there will always be at least 32 participants. The women will meet at the Dos Hermanos Bridge because of its visibility and because a lot of people pass by it on their way to Puerta de Tierra and Old San Juan, Carolina and the Condado.

 

"Here there are women of different ideologies, but we are all firm believers in human rights, and we admire Oscar López Rivera's verticality, strength and patriotic commitment," the women added. "There is absolutely no reason for him to remain in prison, when all those accused with him of the offense called seditious conspiracy - which is nothing but the criminalization of political ideas - were released many years ago and have led productive and honorable lives in Puerto Rican society. If the president of the United States really believes in human rights, he should release Oscar, immediately and unconditionally. This demand has been embraced by the most diverse sectors, including the country's political parties.

 

Do you qualify for rental assistance?

• Homeless?
• About to be homeless?
• Falling behind in rent?
• Need a security deposit and first month's rent?

Eligibility for Assistance:

• Resident of Humboldt Park or Logan Square
• Seeking housing in the Humboldt Park and Logan Square community
• Behind on rent

For more information, please contact Melissa Rodríguez at 773.227.7794.

San Juan, 4/28/2013 - A campaign for the pardon of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera took shape today with a singular 32 minute demonstration carried out by a similar quantity of well-known women, including feminists, attorneys, actresses and members of the independence movement.

 

The movement called "32 for Oscar" took place for the first time this last Sunday of the month, and will be repeated the last Sunday of the coming months, until president Barack Obama pardons López Rivera, who next May 29 will mark 32 years in prison in the United States for the offense of seditious conspiracy for his struggle for the independence of Puerto Rico.

 

Attorney Josefina Pantoja Oquendo, one of the organizers of the protest, pointed out the need to show clearly the Puerto Rican people's struggle for the freedom of the independentista, a struggle which various political and social personalities of the country have claimed.

 

Journalist Alida Millán Ferrer pointed out that "such an arbitrary and unjust sentence and converted Oscar into one of the prisoners held the longest for ideological reasons in the hemisphere." 

 

She recalled the case of Nelson Mandela who spent [27] years in prison for opposing the apartheid regime in South Africa.

 

"With this activity, we want to remind the Puerto Rican people that we can't rest until we bring Oscar back to the Homeland," she expressed.

 

Clarisa López Ramos assured Inter News Service (INS) that this Sunday her father was fasting in prison as a way to be in communion with the 32 women in solidarity with his release.

 

This is what my father said, with these words: "That is the way to be present with you all, in solidarity with you valiant women."

 

Mercedes López Rivera recalled that she shared with her brother for 38 years, the age he was when he went to prison, and that since then, "we've seen each other for almost 32 years behind glass and using a microphone" to communicate when he wasn't allowed physical contact.

 

"Oscar must get out. This activity is immense, and we need to do many more," she said.

 

The ex-ombudswoman for Women, María Dolores Fernós, stated that her participation in the activity had a purpose: "to remind Oscar López Rivera that the Puerto Rican people support him and to denounce what in my judgment is an inhumane act on the part of the United States government to keep this human being in prison for so many years."

 

"It is indispensable that we continually demonstrate so that president Obama pardons him," she told the INS news agency.

 

Ex Puerto Rican political prisoner Lucy Rodríguez and actresses Idalia Pérez Garay and Cristina Soler were also part of "32 for Oscar," which included women of different ideologies, "firm believers in human rights and who admire the verticality, firmness and patriotic commitment of Oscar López Rivera."

 

The demonstrators chose as their meeting place a side of the Dos Hermanos bridge, for its visibility and because a lot of people pass by it on their way to Puerta de Tierra and Old San Juan, Carolina and the Condado.

 

United States authorities consider that López Rivera, a veteran of the Vietnam War, was one of the principals of the clandestine Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) of Puerto Rico, which operated in Chicago and New York.

 

On his arrest on May 29, 1981, he was accused of seditious conspiracy, for supposedly trying to overthrow by force the authority of the United States over Puerto Rico, for which he was sentenced to 55 years in prison, to which they added another fifteen years for an alleged escape conspiracy.

 

In 1999, then president Bill Clinton granted clemency to a dozen Puerto Rican independentistas linked to the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) and The Macheteros, but conditioned López Rivera's offer on his serving another ten years in prison, which would have been completed in [September] of 2009.

 

The political prisoner rejected the U.S. president's offer because it didn't include some of his compañeros, such as Carlos Alberto Torres, who was released in July of 2010.

 

For many years, various sectors, including agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have done everything possible to ensure López Rivera not be released.