On Saturday, September 20, hundreds gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the 8th Day Center for Peace and Justice, a Catholic focus group which was founded on the struggles for justice, equality and human dignity. While celebrating this important milestone, the 8th Day Center, whose motto is "We who believe in Freedom cannot rest until it comes," welcomed and honored Rasmea Odeh. Odeh is a Palestinian activist who has dedicated almost 50 years of her life to the empowerment of Arab women, first as an organizer in her homes of Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon, and then in Chicago for the past 10 years. On October 22, 2013, Rasmea was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security and charged with Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization for allegedly failing to disclose that she had been imprisoned by the Israelis over 45 years ago. The wrongful conviction in Palestine was the result of vicious physical and sexual torture by the Israelis, so Rasmea is fighting this U.S. charge in a Detroit courtroom this fall. 

She committed no crime and is only under attack for being a Palestinian icon, known worldwide as a leading representative of the legitimate Palestinian struggle for self-determination, independence and the Right of Return. She needs and deserves our support. See uspcn.org and stopfbi.net for more information.

 José spoke about the importance of human solidarity and human resilience in the face of political marginalization and oppression from the vantage point of the Puerto Rican struggle.

More than 100 people gathered on Tuesday, September 23 at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture to commemorate the historic Puerto Rican uprising against Spanish rule in the mountainous region of Lares, Puerto Rico on September 23, 1868. The celebration was framed within a symbolic 24-hour fast based on the Biblical Daniel's Fast. This effort was led by two young members of National Boricua Human Rights Network, Eliana, "Frenchy" Triche and Juan "Nito" Morales. More than 40 individuals had signed up to participate and 33 reflected on their experience with the fast.

The program also included a panel discussion with three ex-political prisoners: Ricardo Jiménez, Luis Rosa and Edwin Cortés chaired by Jessie Fuentes. It was a dynamic exchange on their experiences during 20 years of incarceration and the past 15 years since their release. José E. López highlighted some important historical points about the Grito de Lares. The event culminated with Lourdes Lugo singing the original Puerto Rican national anthem authored by Lola Rodríguez de Tío for the 1868 uprising.

A packed house celebrated el Grito de Lares on Tuesday, September 23rd, at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture (NMPRAC, formerly IPRAC) on Division Street in Humboldt Park.  As with every year since the historic uprising against Spanish colonial rule in 1868, Puerto Ricans came together to commemorate the spirit of resistance, but this year in Chicago, 33 people were asked to fast for the day in support of freedom for Oscar López Rivera.  Every seat was filled, as local parents and children, university students, educators and activists listened with close attention to testimonials of collective action, personal sacrifice, healthy sustenance, and political solidarity, as folding chairs shuttled into the room and lined the walls.  Professor José López opened the event and spoke of the profoundly international character of the national struggle for Puerto Rican independence, and its historical linkages to liberation struggles and the abolition of slavery throughout the Caribbean.  It is no accident, he explained, that the Lares flag parallels the Dominican flag, and the Puerto Rican flag parallels the Cuban, as leaders like Ramón Emeterio Betances, Lola Rodríguez de Tió, and Segundo Ruiz Belvis had Dominican and Venezuelan roots, and connections to wider struggles throughout Latin America.

The Network then hosted a panel of former political prisoners of the Puerto Rican independence movement, including Edwin Cortés, Ricardo Jiménez and Luis Rosa, all of whom had served years in federal prison and were granted clemency by President Clinton in 1999.  Jessie Fuentes, Community Liaison of Roberto Clemente Community Academy, moderated the panel and posed questions regarding their struggles and victories while incarcerated, the reaction and aftermath of their release, and the present campaign for the release of Oscar. In particular, Jiménez delivered an impassioned appeal to all those present to take a moment to reflect on the meaning of sacrifice, and to consider all the ways and means to support the campaign in the year to come.

Audience members were then asked to stand if they had spent the day keeping to the biblical Daniel Fast, eating only fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and refraining from consuming any meats, alcohol, sugar, processed foods, and-particularly difficult for Puerto Rican participants-coffee.  "That was the hardest," said Matt Rodríguez, principal of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School.  One by one those who had fasted offered testimonials, speaking of how the fast transformed their day, how it started conversations with children and parents, and linking the desire for personal wellness with the desire for the freedom of Oscar.  Participants spoke of a persistent need for more affordable and local fresh fruits and vegetables, and the larger movement to create a Community of Wellness in Humboldt Park, as well as very personal accounts of what it means to discipline the body for a heartfelt cause.  Minister Abel Muhammad, Latino Representative of the Nation of Islam, took part in the fast and expressed his solidarity with the campaign, while joking that Muslims can show you what a real fast is.  Others talked of their memories of Oscar as a builder of local institutions, the history of the hunger strike in Irish political struggle, a vision of the celebration the day Oscar finally comes home to Chicago, and the renewed call to resume the fast for a full 33 days starting in April 2015.

Caracas, 23 Sep. AVN.- El presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, reiteró este martes su llamado por la liberación del puertorriqueño Óscar Lopéz Rivera, preso político en los Estados Unidos, por luchar por la independencia de la isla caribeña.

"Su causa es una causa justa", destacó el Jefe de Estado venezolano desde un encuentro con movimientos sociales en el Bronx, Nueva York.

NEW YORK - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has asked the U.S. government to "rectify its erratic harassment policy" towards his country and claimed he is not anti-American despite his frequent diatribes against the United States.

In comments Tuesday at an appearance at the Hostos Community College in New York City's Bronx neighborhood, Maduro said that he was attending the UN General Assembly for the first time to "bring the whole truth" about Venezuela. "Our revolution has not collapsed nor is it going to collapse," Maduro said.

He added that although he initially had doubts about attending the General Assembly, he decided to go ahead after reading critical editorials about his policy in two of the most important U.S. newspapers, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

"'What a coincidence!' I thought. They want to hinder my visit to the United Nations. At that time, on Sunday, I was still thinking about whether to come or not," he said.

"When I read the two editorials, thanks to The Washington Post and The New York Times, I decided: 'Now I am going. Because one has to tell the entire truth about our country.'"
Maduro claimed that the two opinion pieces showed how the elites of the United States "look down" on Venezuela. "We are not the best nor do we claim to be, but we also cannot accept being sneered at," he said.

"We know that the entire attack against Venezuela is to try and prevent the hugely popular democratic revolution possessing a deeply Latino identity with (independence leader Simon) Bolivar's flag and the spirit of (late president) Hugo Chavez from riding into the 21st century and continue consolidating itself," he stated. Maduro added that Venezuela was experiencing "a revolution hounded by the fatal obsession of those who want to possess the world," as if it were "a Hollywood movie."

Responding to questions about political prisoners in Venezuela, Maduro said: "there are quite a lot of political prisoners in the United States, starting with (Puerto Rican nationalist) Oscar Lopez Rivera, the oldest political prisoner in the world, the Mandela of Latin America and the Caribbean." Continue reading here.
 

MADRID, España - Una pancarta que reclama la excarcelación del preso político puertorriqueño Oscar López Rivera amaneció esta madrugada colgada en el puente de la avenida Complutense.

"De Lares a Madrid: Libertad para Puerto Rico y Oscar López", lee el cartel que se suma a la iniciativa de dedicar la celebración del Grito de Lares al veterano que lleva 33 años encarcelado por luchar, precisamente,  por la libertad de la Isla. Y es que, un día como hoy, en el 1868, los puertorriqueños se sublevaron contra el coloniaje español que, a su vez, reprimió y encarceló a los autores de esta gesta patriótica.

"Estamos transportando lo que pasó en esta antigua metrópolis al contexto de hoy en el que Estados Unidos ha seguido reproduciendo el patrón de represión contra los que se sublevan ante el abuso colonial", sostuvo Alberto Pesapane, un italiano portavoz del Comité 33 días por Oscar desde España.

López Rivera es el preso político latinoamericano que más años ha cumplido en las cárceles estadounidenses luego de haber sido acusado en 1981 por conspiración sediciosa, término legal utilizado para criminalizar la disidencia y el derecho de cada pueblo a su autodeterminación.  Su condena actual es de 70 años de prisión aunque el código penal de Estados Unidos establece un máximo de 20 años por dicho delito.   

"Es absurdo y ridículo. Casi dos siglos después desde del Grito aún se reprime y castiga a quienes luchan por la libertad de nuestro país. Es una clara violación de los derechos humanos", denunció Daína Quintana, otra portavoz del colectivo.

El grupo recordó que Norberto González Claudio es otro preso político puertorriqueño que estaba supuesto a salir en libertad a principios de este mes pero sin una clara explicación han aplazado la vista para determinar la fecha de su excarcelación.

En la conmemoración del Grito de Lares en el 2005, el Negociado de Investigaciones Federales (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés) asesinó en su casa a Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, uno de los líderes de las Fuerzas Armadas de la Liberación Nacional.

El Comité surgió como una iniciativa de un grupo de boricuas, latinos y europeos radicados en España por razones de estudio y/o trabajo. 

29 de agosto de 2014, La Paz.- El XX Foro de Sao Paulo otorgó este viernes aquí la distinción de delegado de honor al líder puertorriqueño Oscar López Rivera, preso en Estados Unidos desde hace 33 años, 12 de ellos en confinamiento.

El Movimiento Independentista de ese país caribeño mostró a Prensa Latina el documento que contiene la condecoración, apoyada por los 180 partidos y movimientos sociales participantes en la cita internacional.

"En una decisión unánime y a viva voz, el plenario del XX Encuentro del Foro de Sao Paulo le confirió al prisionero político puertorriqueño la distinción de delegado de honor al evento", precisa el texto. Agrega la nota que centenares de delegados y delegadas de América Latina y el Caribe presentes en el cónclave también manifestaron numerosas muestras de apoyo a la libertad de López Rivera, condenado a 90 años de cárcel por apoyar la lucha independentista.

El Movimiento Independentista de Puerto Rico estuvo representado en el Foro por el Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano y el Frente Socialista.

By Erika Abad

For the last ten years, when faced with internal political and ethical frustrations about teaching, research and community advocacy on campus or in my hometown, Chicago, my correspondence withOscar López Rivera provides clarity. I write to him because, as I struggle with where I wanted to continue the legacy of those bridge builders that came before me, I need some grounding. I write to him because the most powerful boricua women around me are scholars and women political leaders who do not hold the political clout of the intellectual outsiders-looking-in or the male veterans who are the face and the voice of community work. I write to him because I need to remain connected to the political impetus that drives why I continue to work with Latino immigrants. I write to him because I need ground from which to bear in mind the greater context of my own frustrations, impatience and disillusionment with the way I am following my commitment to education and scholarly research. Continue reading.
 

By Ana López

On September 21 2014, the Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn held their Puerto Rican Parade dedicated to political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera.  Over 1000 marched down the Puerto Rico Avenue greeted by parade goers.  At the festival at the end of the parade, Ponce Laspinas from the NY Coordinator gave a message urging the people to join the campaign to Free Oscar.