The parade could be seen and heard several blocks away from Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, where determined visitors armed with folding chairs and coolers had been lining the route since early Sunday morning. Red, white and blue flags fluttered like capes from the backs of people heading toward Bryant Park. Salsa music pumped from the floats and coursed through the streets. Cheers rose above the roar of Midtown traffic.

They came for the start-of-summer celebration that is the National Puerto Rican Day Parade, as large and festive as ever as it made its way up Fifth Avenue. But if it seemed unchanged in the essentials, this year's parade wore a slightly more serious attitude, coming just four months after a new board took over after revelations of financial mismanagement and rising concern that the parade's corporate sponsorships had turned a cherished cultural celebration into a commercial spectacle.

Professor Jose Lopez comes from a proud Puerto Rican heritage. He believes strongly in social justice and social action. Lopez currently serves as the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and his work there includes overseeing a Day Care Center, an AIDS program, the Cultural Center itself as well as working with a High School. Lopez has taught many community leaders such as Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez, Senator Miguel del Valle, Representatives Berrios and Soto and Alderman Billy Ocasio.

On May 28, Jose A. Ramirez from Vida/SIDA's BOHIO Housing Services hosted a discussion panel on LUCHA's new Mi Tierra housing initiative. LUCHA is currently in the process of building affordable housing apartments in Humboldt Park to help stop gentrification. Alma Zamudio, LUCHA's community organizer, led the discussion panel while PRCC staff gave input and ideas on how to make these new housing apartments more livable and beneficial to Humboldt Park residents. Many great ideas and information came out of this workshop. Special thanks to Zenaida Lopez (El Rescate), Leslie Rodriguez (Affordable Care Act Program), Gustavo Varela (Generation L), and Maritxa Vidal (Vida/SIDA) for their participation. 

The Barrio Arts Culture Communications Academy is excited to participate in this year's Puerto Rican People' Parade. The new BACCA directive consists of Maria Borrero (director), Mia Espinosa (youth representative), Sikarra Nicholas (youth representative) and Michelle Guzmán (youth representative). BACCA engages youth in the Humboldt Park community and develops their creative talents and skills in the areas of theater, newspaper development, radio, photography, and film/TV, while also promoting community-based civic engagement. This program mainly focuses in the use of  technology workshops, tutoring, and hands-on instruction geared towards providing youth the opportunity to express themselves. As an after-school program, BACCA seeks to also address youth challenges like high school dropout rates, and underage drinking in our community. Recognizing that the school dropout rate directly correlates to other indicators of risk, this after-school program is designed to mix culture, community, and technology across a range of media to encourage participants to transform their community. Our main focus is Underage drinking, due to the significance of this problem; community members in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood took action and started different marketing campaigns for parents and youth to encourage them to find alternatives to drinking, and to talk about the consequences, but also to bring consciousness to our local businesses about the importance of not selling alcohol to minors. We are looking forward to expand our efforts and bring our BACCA to many more youth leaders. We will see you in the Parade!

Mia:

My name is Mia Espinosa and my experience with B.A.C.C.A. has been very positive. I love working with my coworkers and supervisors because they are committed and have great ideas to support the program. Working for an anti-underage drinking campaign has brought me into the realization that people my age are struggling with this issue. Working for the campaign gives me an opportunity to help better my community and reach out to my youth and help them make better decisions. 

Sikarra-

My name is Sikarra Nicholas and I've been with B.A.C.C.A for more than a year and working with this program has changed the way i looked at things before I thought that drinking wasn't a big deal and that i couldn't do any harm . I was careless when i came to my thoughts on drinking,working with this program has showed me that drinking is very harmful and it can hurt you mentally and can hurt my body . doing this program has showed me that most teens are and taught about the thing that can happen when you drink and that we are not asked our opinions and that we are kind of push aside but when we are asked to show our thoughts it sheds a little light on things . Im very glad that i was able to work with B.A.C.C.A and if i had the chance i'd do it again.

Pastor Wilfredo De Jesus Celebrates Clemente's 40th Anniversary

In September 2014, Roberto Clemente Community Academy will celebrate 40 years of providing education to the Humboldt Park community. Join us in reflecting on 40 years as we release interviews with local community leaders, Clemente alumni, and Class of 2014 graduates. We are also honored to be showcased at the 2nd Annual Unified Puerto Rican People's Parade, occurring on June 14th at 2pm.

In addition to celebrating the historic past of the Puerto Rican Borinqueneers/65th Puerto Rican Infantry Regiment of the US Army, the parade looks forward to a future of educational possibilities for Humboldt Park youth and Clemente's new focus as an International Baccalaureate Candidate School.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the first school in the US to be named after legendary Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, Clemente Community Academy is offering the opportunity to become a part of that history. For a limited time, we will commemorate donations to the Roberto Clemente 40th anniversary fundraiser by adding the names of those who have contributed to the Wall of Fame. This will be a permanent display in our lobby which will highlight the names of all who have given generously  to the celebration. Each brick will carry the name of the person making the donation or one of the below options. The donations will fall into 3 categories, Standard $50, All-Star $100, and MVP $250.

3 pricing options-

* Wall of Fame-$50 donation

* All-Star $100 donation

* MVP $250 donation

 All bricks are bronze with black lettering and border

 Naming options available are :

* Name

* Name and Graduation Year

* Mr & Mrs Name

At 71 years of age and having served 33 years in remote prisons, far away from his country, accused of seditious conspiracy, but never having been found guilty of shedding any blood, Oscar López Rivera is the symbol of a flagrant dishonor for his jailers and an affront to democracy that fails to respect human rights.

Because Oscar López Rivera, beyond his ideology and his aspirations, is a citizen who dedicated two years of his life to active military service, in the Vietnam War, and who rigorously sacrificed himself for the very United States that is now engaged in keeping him isolated, trying to silence the calls for his release and intending to keep him out of the spotlight of worldwide attention.

In spite of the unanimous demands of the people and from every sector, and important voices in the international community, Oscar López is still held in the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the United States government persists in ignoring the call for the release of this elderly political activist and community leader, so that he can be with his family, mainly his only daughter and his granddaughter.

One must ask why the government of the United States would be so stubborn, a government that boasts of its actions for the rights of political prisoners in the whole world - in Ukraine, with Yulia Timoshenko; in China, with artist Ai Weiwei; in Venezuela, with the opposition leader Leopoldo López; in Cuba, with ex-prisoner Guillermo Fariñas, and even in Russia with the feminist punk group "Pussy Riot" - but in its own country keeps buried alive a Puerto Rican who, from 1986 to 1998, suffered one of the most cruel prison punishments that exists, that of solitary confinement in the prison of Marion, Illinois. In Marion, a super-maximum security prison built in 1963 to replace Alcatraz, which had just closed, Oscar López managed to survive more than a decade with absolutely no contact with his family or friends.

The very fact that, contrary to the criminal justice policies of almost every country in the world, Oscar is held in a prison so distant from Puerto Rico, hindering regular family visits, is a form of incomprehensible torture by a nation which purports to have a humanitarian calling.

President Obama, who claimed to feel moved when he visited the historic cell of Nelson Mandela in Robben Island, South Africa, should know that in the prison at Terre Haute, in Indiana, there is a man accused of the same "crimes" as Mandela - the same legal charge: seditious conspiracy - for which, different from the South African leader, he has served six years longer in prison: Mandela endured 27 years in prison; Oscar López has just marked 33 years in prison.

Obama has the power to release him today, and he should do so. He's not being asked to pardon, but rather to fulfill a moral mandate of respect for the human condition and, apart from that, an act of dignity, valor, and self-worth for a man of priniciples against whom state vengeance, ideological discrimination, the prostitution of justice, pressure by federal security agencies, and cruelty are imposed without mercy.

The release of Oscar López cannot keep being postponed, and the call for his freedom must continue to be unanimous and not fall into the trap of pessimism or electoral political cabals. Internal affairs of the United States, including its electoral processes, need not matter to anyone when it comes to returning this human being to the land he belongs to, that saw him come to life. He is an older man who has conducted himself in exemplary fashion and who does not deserve to get sick or incapacitated in prison, something that would cause great pain and impotence to his entire people.

The government of the United States is morally impeded from intervening on behalf of any political prisoner, in any place in the world, while the president continues to mock the memory of Mandela, violate civil and political rights and Oscar's right to freedom.

On the June 6 edition of The Jordan Journal heard Fridays from 3-5 p.m.  Howard Jordan interviews Jose Lopez, younger brother of the Puerto Rican patriot and political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera who has been imprisoned by the U.S. government for over 33 years. This beloved freedom fighter is one of the longest held political prisoners in the Western hemisphere and was honored by The National Puerto Rican Day Parade for his unique voice  and to rally support for his release amongst the parade-goers that lined the streets of New York City's Fifth Avenue. To join the movement to Free Oscar Lopez contact Prof.Ana M. López at (646) 229-5133.To comment on the program write me at thejordanjordan@hotmail.comor tweet @hjordanWBAI  

Listen to the program.

Publicada originalmente en el Nuevo Dia, 29 de mayo de 2014

Hoy cumple 33 años en prisión. No te pierdas la entrevista exclusiva. Video

Por José A. Delgado / jdelgado@elnuevodia.com

June 2, 2014

Orlando Plaza

Ululy Martínez

Board Members

National Puerto Rican Parade

Compañeros:

i would like to thank you and the other Board Members with profound gratitude for making me part of this year's celebration of the National Puerto Rican Parade. It is a great honor and a very humbling experience for me.

Thirty three years ago today i started facing the great challenge of imprisonment. When i arrived in prison i expected to spend no more than the same amount of years other Puerto Rican political prisoners had spent.  Don Oscar Collazo López had spent the most-29 years in federal prison when i was arrested.  Unfortunately, i have surpassed him by 4 years.  Thus far, i have been able to face the challenge with dignity and honor, and stay strong, both spiritually and mentally. And, in spite of all the dehumanizing and toxic experiences i've had to face, i can aver that there is no hatred or fear in my heart and that i can still fill it with love and compassion every day.

On the night of May 28th, in solidarity with the Campaign to free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López-Rivera, Detroit NBHRN put up posters and banners all around the city. May 29th marked Oscar's 33rd year of incarceration in U.S. Federal prison. 

These banners and posters were posted in an effort to bring awareness of Oscar López and the campaign to release him. Even though the banners that hung on the freeways were taken down late the next day, many people talked about having seen them and even posted pictures of them on Facebook. Most of the other banners and posters have remained around the city throughout the days that followed. Because of these posters and banners, the NBHRN-Detroit Facebook page received over 70 likes on May 29th. Many sending messages inquiring more about Oscar's case and what they can do to help release him.

WASHINGTON -  El presidente de Uruguay, José "Pepe"Mujica afirmó hoy en Washington D.C. que "Puerto Rico es una de las naciones de América latina" y reveló que ha intervenido a favor de la excarcelación del prisionero político puertorriqueño Oscar López Rivera, que cumple este mes 33 años en cárceles estadounidenses.

"Tengo una posición histórica: Puerto Rico es una de las naciones que compone América Latina, pero va a ser difícil que yo pueda convencer a Estados Unidos", indicó Mujica, en una conferencia de prensa al responder preguntas de El Nuevo Día.

Horas antes, Mujica se había entrevistado en la Casa Blanca con el presidente Barack Obama.

Aunque hizo claro que no fue un asunto que trató en su encuentro con el presidente Obama, Mujica, un ex guerrillero tupamaro, afirmó que  "algún día Estados Unidos comprenderá (cuál es) el camino menos traumático para esa relación".

Con respecto a López Rivera, sobre el cual había recibido una petición de intervención, Mujica sostuvo que "hicimos lo que teníamos que hacer". Siga leyendo...

By Alberto Rodriguez

May 2014 was an exciting and historic month in the three decade long campaign to free Puerto Rican Political Prisoner, Oscar López Rivera. Oscar is the longest held Puerto Rican Political Prisoner convicted in  U.S. federal court for seditious conspiracy for his commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico. Commemorating the anniversary of his 33 years in captivity, the campaign for his release organized "la Caminata Nacional 33 en 33 por Oscar." (33 in 33 Walk for Oscar). This walk began April 27 in the small central
town of Gurabo and toured 33  towns in 33 days to raise awareness about the case of López Rivera and to gather support for the  call for his release.

Each day one town was connected with another in a  333 mile walk through winding mountainous roads. While a small, hearty core group of activists and supporters participated in consecutive daily walks, each town added its own flavor, sometimes its own mayor, and often hundreds of walkers -  an eclectic group of young people, seniors, athletes, elementary, high school and college students, unions, musicians, civic and religious groups, elected officials, those in wheel chairs  and the able bodied, pro-independence activists,  supporters of the present political status with the U.S., as well as supporters of statehood.

People in small rural villages and barrios stood and waited at their front gates for the "Caminata". Passing cars blasted their horns and shouted their support. Children came out of their classrooms to shout approval and display signs they made themselves, of love and support for Oscar. Some schools even allowed their students to leave the classroom to join the walk.

When the walk reached each town's plaza, a beautiful cultural event took place with music and poetry. Under a blazing afternoon sun, children sang while others read their writings dedicated to Oscar.

As the walk in the mountains was underway, another event took place in San Juan called "Al Mar X Oscar" (To the sea for Oscar), inspired by a letter from prison to his granddaughter Karina, in which he wrote, "... after the family, what I miss the most is the sea. It's been 35 years since the last time I saw it." On a beautiful Sunday afternoon on May 25, hundreds marched along the waterfront of Old San Juan while row boats, paddle boats, rafts, kayaks, fishing boats, long Asian inspired dragon boats, jet skis, practically anything that could float accompanied them. At the foot of the century old walls of the Spanish fort, El Morro, the water crafts landed with a "cabezudo" papier-mache puppet head representing Oscar wading on shore symbolically representing his arrival to Puerto Rico by sea. Oscar's daughter Clarisa López and granddaughter Karina Valentín emotionally greeted the symbolic Oscar. At a cultural and political rally held in front of El Morro, Clarisa stated, "We are going to achieve what seems the impossible ... returning my father to the motherland ..." The multitude present shouted their approval.

On May 29 the Caminata arrived in front of the Federal Building in San Juan after successfully visiting 33 towns in 33 days. In solidarity with the Caminata, Oscar walked 333 miles in those 33 days, in the prison yard. The women who meet the last Sunday of  every month on the Dos Hermanos Bridge demanding Oscar's release marched from the bridge in Old San Juan to the Federal Building in the financial district of San Juan.Headed by Oscar's daughter Clarisa and the President of the Bar Association, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, dressed in pink t- shirts, with flags and posters with messages of support. Then the Caminata arrived, headed by a giant key held by some of the former Puerto Rican Political Prisoners released in 1999 by presidential commutation of their excessive sentences. Behind them were delegations from each of the towns that the Caminata had marched through, along with artists, athletes and members of different political parties as well as civic and religious organizations. The Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, and former political prisoner Rafael Cancel Miranda were present. A rally of celebration and joy followed the end of the Caminata. Oscar's attorney Jan Susler, a partner in the People's Law Office, stated that the work in Puerto Rico around Oscar's release was having positive results in the U.S. She mentioned that this year's Puerto Rican Parade in New York was paying tribute to Oscar and calling for  his release. She said, "I ask you to continue with that consistency, that emotion that inspires us to continue working for Oscar's release."

The Puerto Rican people have sent a powerful message to the White House that we want Oscar López Rivera released from U.S. custody now. In the midst of the worst economic crisis the island has experienced in decades, high energy and food costs, mass exodus to the U.S., primarily of the young and the educated, a crumbling education and health system, a rise in crime and the insecurity and anxiety it creates; Oscar López has not been forgotten, and the call for his release is front and center. In a recent editorial ofEl Nuevo Día, the most widely read newspaper in Puerto Rico with a clear pro-American editorial position stated the following:

At 71 years of age and having served 33 years in remote prisons, far away from his country, accused of seditious conspiracy, but never having been found guilty of shedding any blood, Oscar López Rivera is the symbol of a flagrant dishonor for his jailers and an affront to democracy that fails to respect human rights. In spite of the unanimous demands of the people and from every sector, and important voices in the international community, Oscar López is still held in a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The United States government persists in ignoring the call for his release. The government of the United States is morally impeded from intervening on behalf of any political prisoner, in any place in the world, while the president continues to mock the memory of Mandela, violate civil and political rights and Oscar's right to freedom.

From his jail cell, Oscar López says, "I can't afford to think about freedom. The future is very unpredictable and I have no clear idea of when I will leave prison. I don't like illusory optimism."  As a former Puerto Rican political prisoner myself, I can fully understand the need to guard oneself from such thoughts and dreams. Here in Puerto Rico, there is a mass sense of optimism and faith that President Obama will do the right and just thing and release Oscar. This optimism is not idealistic or unfounded but very much rooted in a proud history of witnessing our political prisoners walking out of the gates of U.S. prisons. Here, there is faith in the power of a united Puerto Rican people demanding in one loud, clear and unwavering voice "Free Oscar López Now!"