Saludos,

Les habla Gabo, cantautor boricua, autor de 3 discos, y artista orgulloso de nuestra patria, Puerto Rico. Como parte de mi compromiso con la causa de Oscar López Rivera, escribí "Canción de Oscar" para poner mi grano de arena. Estoy trabajando de cerca con personas y organizaciones que colaboran y llevan acabo labores por este motivo y me he comprometido con ellos para ayudarlos de esta manera.

  Con la compra del tema, el cual cuesta $1, parte del dinero se donará para sufragar gastos incurridos en distintos esfuerzos, que tienen como meta final la liberación de Oscar. Les agradecería si nos ayudan a que su público conozca de esta iniciativa, motivarlos a comprarla y compartirla en las redes, y así, buscar que la gente ponga su grano de esta manera tan sencilla; buscar que la gente la comparta en sus páginas para que así aumente el número de personas que pueda aportar y compartirla a su vez.

  El tema se encuentra disponible en Bandcamp, ITunes y Amazon. Es mi opinión que la mejor plataforma para aportar es Bandcamp ya que te permite, si es que deseas, aportar mas del dólar que cuesta la canción. Escuchelo en Bandcamp.

 

CANCION DE OSCAR

Seis de enero, día de reyes 
Nacimiento singular 
Oscar López por primera vez hinchaba sus pulmones 
Con vientos de libertad 

Criado entre dos culturas 
Y obligado fue a sangrar 
Y al volver de aquella selva, decidió que por su patria 
Debería de luchar 

Y se disparó el primer cañón 
Fuego que dio forma a su condición 
De soldado fiel, ante su deber 
Fiera que traerá el nuevo amanecer 

Todo por amor, todo por verdad 
Todo por el sueño, de la libertad 

Por su sacrificio, por su humanidad 
Ahora es nuestro turno, de por el luchar 
Tráelo a casa ya 

Apresado fue el poeta, cargos de conspiración 
Fue lanzado en un vacío, pero el brío de su alma 
El silencio no calló 

Ya van mas de trinta años, y el implacable al conjugar 
Dando cátedra a un imperio, que justifica mentiras 
Condenando la verdad 

Y se disparó el primer cañón 
Fuego que dio forma a la condición 
Ejercito fiel, ante el deber 
Con el puño en alto por Borinquén 

Todo por amor, todo por verdad 
Todo por el sueño, de la libertad 

Por su sacrificio, por su humanidad 
Ahora es nuestro turno, de por el luchar 
Tráelo a casa ya 

Tráelo a casa ya... 

Enlace de Bandcamp

Adjunto el video y mensaje íntegro del Lcdo. Rubén Berríos Martínez ante todos los Jefes de Estado presentes en esta III Cumbre de la CELAC celebrada en Costa Rica, así como un video con su participación. Mencióna a Oscar López Rivera a las 6:14.

 

Palabras pronunciadas por el presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, en la III Cumbre de la CELAC, Costa Rica, 28 de enero de 2015. Menciona Oscar Lopez Rivera a las 11:00.

El presidente estadounidense Barack Obama recibió la semana pasada una carta a la mano de la congresista Nydia Velázquez en la que el presidente de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR), Uroyoán Ramón Emeterio Walker junto al rector del Recinto de Río Piedras, Carlos Severino, y  estudiantes del campus abogan por la excarcelación del preso político, Oscar López Rivera.

Esta iniciativa se cuajó desde noviembre del año pasado, pero no fue hasta el 29 de enero que se le pudo entregar la carta directamente al presidente, explicó Severino. La misiva es un acto novel puesto que ningún presidente de la UPR se había hecho eco de la campaña que busca traer de vuelta a Puerto Rico a López Rivera.

"Estratégicamente pensamos que era muy importante que el presidente de los Estados Unidos recibiera esta correspondencia sin ningún tipo de filtro. Estamos muy satisfehcos de que la congresista haya ayudado enormemente a cumplir con ese propósito estratégico. Y que el presidente conozca de primera mano nuestra recomendación como recinto, nos llena de mucho agrado", sostuvo Severino.

Se desconoce qué, si algo, manifestó el presidente tras recibir la carta, dijo Severino.

Sin embargo, "la expectativa es crear conciencia de la justicia y de la necesidad de que Oscar López sea excarcelado prontamente", afirmó el rector. 

Oscar López Rivera is a freedom fighter for the independence of Puerto Rico. He has the unenviable distinction of being the longest-held Puerto Rican political prisoner in the United States. He was charged with seditious conspiracy, that is, to conspire to end the United States government's control over Puerto Rico through force, via membership in the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN). Initially, he was sentenced to 55 years in prison in 1981; later, in 1987, 15 more years were added to his sentence due to an alleged conspiracy to escape, a charge that according to his defense attorney, Jan Susler, was fabricated by the government.[1] In total, Oscar's prison sentence amounts to 70 years. Thus far, he has completed 32 of those years. Susler, in an interview for the online newspaperNoticel, said:

[When he and the others [Puerto Rican nationalists] are charged with conspiracy, it's basically because the government didn't know who had done what, or what exactly they had done. Conspiracy is not having done something. It is a charge of having agreed to put an end to colonial control of the United States in Puerto Rico. If the U. S. government had known that they had done something specific, they would have charged them with other crimes, but that was not the case. Given the lack of evidence, they charged them only with seditious conspiracy.[3]] 

 Continue reading.

15 de enero de 2015

Three and a half years ago, Oscar López Rivera requested clemency from president Barack obama, with the hope of being able to return to Puerto Rico, to the arms of his daughter and granddaughter after three decades in U.S. prisons.

  If in 1999 he had accepted president Bill Clinton's offer of clemency - which he rejected because it didn't include two of his compañeros from the clandestine group Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), since freed -, he would have been home more than five years ago.

  That's why, although the process is following the traditional formalities of the United States Department of Justice, instead of president Obama making direct use of his constitutional power of pardon, really the federal government has nothing new to examine. President Obama, who became a politician in Chicago (Illinois) knows the case well. 

  In theory, under analysis here in Washington are the same realities, arguments and opinions the were in the office of the now outgoing Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, 16 years ago, when he was then Deputy Attorney General. 

  With the passing of time, López Rivera - who is serving a sentence of 55 years which increased to 70 after he was imputed to have conspired to escape - has become the longest held political prisoner in U.S. prisons. In May he will have served 34 years in prison.

Continue reading.

 

Vease el video.

There are those who say that Sandino lives

And I would say that is true

We hear him in CELAC

In the voices of the two speakers from the Caribbean.

Che Guevara said that Latin American revolutionaries would be measured by their stand on Puerto Rico. And Allende, Bolivar, Tupac Amaru, Chávez or the great apostle of liberty José Martí would say that the freedom of the countries which partake of CELAC would also be measured by their stand on Puerto Rico. Thank you Nicaragua. thank you Commander Ortega.

Of course Sandino lives! Each day I feel honored and proud of the fact that the only passport I've ever held and used is the Nicaraguan passport. Since I've never accepted nor will I ever accept the imposition of U.S. citizenship, a citizenship imposed in spite of the fact that it had been rejected by the Puerto Rican Parliament in 1917, I don't use the U.S. passport. I'm a Puerto Rican, not a U.S. citizen. I could be a Nicaraguan, Cuban, an Ecuadorian, a Venezuelan, a Guatemalan, or a citizen of any other country of our greater homeland in Latin America. But I'll never be an Anglosaxon.

My thanks to Cuba and Venezuela for their support and solidarity with our efforts to free my country, Puerto Rico.Also, my thanks to Ecuador and to those who quietly assisted us in this third summit of CELAC.

Puerto Ricans rebelled on the 23rd of September of 1868 against the Spanish empire. We rebelled again on the 30th of October of 1950 against the Anglosaxon empire. We've engaged in rebellion within our own national Puerto Rican territory, as well as within the belly of the beast.

We've endured the bombings of the U.S. Navy, (May 12, 1898,) we've endured political persecution, imprisonments, massacres, brain washings, but we're still standing. We've been used against our own Latin American and Caribbean brothers and sisters. Yet you have seen in CELAC, through the presentation of Comrade Ruben Berríos Martínez, that we have not been beaten. They have destroyed our economy, but they have not been able to destroy our culture or spirit.

As long as the Puerto Rican nation is not free, as long as the Malvina Islands are not returned to Argentina, and Guantánamo is not returned to Cuba, Latin America is not free. I know that the U.S. will never return to Mexico the territory it stole from her, half of its territory, in fact.

I spent 28 years of my life in the prisons of the U.S. empire. But I'm a man who continues to dare to be free, like Oscar López Rivera, who has so far spent 34 years in the prisons of the Yankee empire for fighting for the independence of his homeland, which he has every right to do. Oscar like myself, is as much a Puerto Rican as a Latin American. To fight for his excarceration is to fight for our own liberation.

Let us fight the criminal blockade against Cuba. Let us fight the Yankee attacks on Venezuela. Let us fight together for the well-being of our countries, as we'll also be fighting for our greater Latin American homeland, which belongs to all of us.

Rafael Cancel Miranda

January 31, 2015

  WASHINGTON - Days before completing service of 404 months in prison, and with intensifying pressure for his release, Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera is convinced that president Barack Obama will make a decision before leaving the White House, but he doesn't want to sow "false hopes."

  He just spent his 33rd Christmas in prison, days during which calls for his release intensified in the international arena, generating very high expectations among those who, as his attorney Jan Susler says, can "cross their fingers, but not their arms," to win his return home.

   His 72nd birthday coincided with Three Kings Day, and although the spirit of Christmas didn't penetrate the prison in Terre Haute (Indiana), on January 6 López Rivera became the chef of the day, cooking for Puerto Rican and two Colombian prisoners the best lunch - given the quality of food at the institution - they could purchase at the commissary: seafood, rice and Mexican beans. And for dessert, a little cake. 

  His memories of celebrating his birthday before prison are fuzzy. "Since I joined the struggle, I don't celebrate it," he said.

Continue reading.

Puertorriqueños aprovecharon la fiesta anual que realizan en la calle San Sebastián, centro de San Juan, capital de Puerto Rico, para exigirle al presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, que ponga fin al cautiverio delindependentista Oscar López Rivera, quien lleva 33 años preso en una cárcel estadounidense.

La protesta se llevó a cabo este sábado cuando cientos de personas con pancartas en mano que mostraban su fotografía exigían la liberación de este preso político de 72 años, quien fue encarcelado tras acciones de lucha por la independencia de Puerto Rico.

Siga leyendo.

Saludos compañero Alejandro

Perdona que no me comunicara anteriormente.  Hemos estado en  constante carrera para lograr que la salida de Norberto de prision se realizara  el 15 de enero. Estuvimos bajo la presión y hasta el mismo día 15  en el aeropuerto de Orlando no nos permitieron comunicación con Norberto.

 

Recibimos el donativo para Norberto. Muchísimas  gracias por su apoyo y solidaridad 

 

Abrazos a  todos(as) de

Elda y Norberto

El Senado Académico de la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Cayey emitió el viernes, una resolución con el fin de distinguir académicamente a Oscar López mediante una invitación para que este sea el orador invitado de su Lección Magistral.

"Hemos determinado que Oscar sea nuestro Orador Invitado porque su mensaje y actitud de amor a la patria y su llamado a la solidaridad y a la unión del pueblo son gestos que deseamos que nuestros estudiantes emulen. Su caso ha trascendido a nivel mundial porque en el lugar que hoy está Oscar antes estuvieron Mahatma Gandhi y Nelson Mandela, son hombres cuyo pensamiento trasciende el tiempo. Y hoy más que nunca las reflexiones de Oscar son oportunas para nuestro país" dijo el doctor Mario Medina, Rector de UPR-Cayey mediante un comunicado de prensa. 

El doctor Medina mencionó que inició las gestiones institucionales para que se le solicite al Bureau de Prisiones Federal (BOP) y al Presidente Obama que intercedan en el caso de Oscar López. 

"Si no ocurre el indulto. Entonces deseamos que el Mensaje de Oscar para nuestros estudiantes sea leído por su hija Clarisa López Ramos. Esta iniciativa también es un acto de solidaridad al reclamo de liberación de Oscar. Queremos que lo liberen, es tiempo ya" sostuvo Medina. 

 

 

Aún cursando la escuela intermedia, mis papás me llevaron hasta Illinois para conocer a las hermanas Lucy y Alicia Rodríguez, las hijas del "peón de Las Marías" como lo describió Juan Antonio Corretjer. Doña Fifo, su mamá, nos llevó hasta la prisión donde cumplían sendas condenas por conspiración sediciosa. Confieso que no entendía del todo, pero tampoco era necesario. Un beso y un abrazo a la despedida de esa primera visita lo comunicaba todo.
Desde entonces viví preso pensando que esa realidad significaba que jamás podría abrazarlas libremente en mi pueblo. La libertad regresaba cuando las podía visitar a la prisión o escribirles. En ese momento, acá se luchaba para defender la naturaleza de la minería destructiva mientras en Vieques era la Marina de Guerra. Como grandes batallas, pensé que jamás vería la resolución de ninguno de estos conflictos; que serían luchas eternas. 

Gracias a la compañera Ana López, quien nos entrego la imagen de Oscar al regresar de Puerto Rico. Oscar esta parado al lado de la estatua de Roberto Clemente Walker en el estadio Three Rivers en Pittsburgh.

Hartford, CT - More than 200 people came to Hartford's Frog Hollow neighborhood for an event held to raise further awareness of the case of Puerto Rican political prisoner, Oscar López Rivera. 30 artists from around the state took part in this arts showcase style event called 'Todo CT Con Oscar' (All of CT with Oscar). The event was collaboratively put on by the arts group, Center Without Walls and the Residents Committee at Billings Forge. 65 letters were signed to be sent to President Barack Obama calling for Oscar to be freed.

 

Known as Puerto Rico's Nelson Mandela, Oscar López Rivera is a Puerto Rican Independentista and political prisoner serving 70 years for seditious conspiracy.  He is the only remaining Independentista remaining behind bars, the other eleven were granted clemency by President Clinton. international support has grown for the release of Oscar, Including calls from Nobel Peace Laureate South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Eduardo Bhatia, president of the Puerto Rican Senate. The National movement is spearheaded by the National Boricua Human Rights Network.

 

The day started with contextual talks from Jorge Luis Limeres who spoke passionately about Oscar Lopez Rivera's life followed by Steve Thornton who gave a history of Hartford and its own history within the Puerto Rican Independence movement. These two talks were sandwiched by local youth who played two movements of a seven movement piece composed by Jack Delano. Jack Delano's son, Pablo was one of the participating artists of the day.

 

The day progressed for over four hours with manifestations of poetry, music, and food provided by the local residents community. The younger generation was in full effect on this day. Poet Zulynette Morales wrote on her Facebook wall, "THIS is the type of learning environment needed everywhere. I didn't know diddly squat about Oscar Lopez Rivera before being invited to perform but what better time to learn than now? Each one teach one!"

 

This emphasized what we all know. We need to teach and re-teach the story of Oscar Lopez Rivera. We cannot be content having wonderful tertulia's with our own peoples aka "the choir" but strive to look for more ways to bring diverse people together to spread the message in an accessible way.

 

In Hartford, we found a way to do it as the art, poetry and music spanned genre's from traditional nueva trova to indie rock. The oldest performer was in his late 60s, the youngest, 12. Everyone who attended, came away with a wonderful base understanding of Oscar Lopez Rivera's plight and, better yet, a number of families approached me afterwards with a, "what's next!?"

 

Project Patria y Cultura, Inc. has made the liberation of Oscar López Rivera a priority. We recorded a CD in Spanish with professional, well known, musicians from Puerto Rico in October of 2014. The CD contains a song entitled "A Oscar López Rivera" and the entire CD is dedicated to Oscar López Rivera. This CD has been promoted all over the world. It has been to: Germany, Spain, England, Canary Islands, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, Perú, México, Argentina, República Dominicana, Cuba, United States, Venezuela -actually we put the Master Copy in the hands of President Nicolás Maduro on September 23, 2014 at Hostos Community College in the Bronx-, and Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico we covered almost all of the radio stations. Radio listeners actually called the stations asking them to replay the songs, especially the one entitled "A Oscar Lopez Rivera". At Oscar birthplace -San Sebastián- Radio Progreso and Radio Raices embraced the CD. At Radio Raíces the interviewed became a celebration that spilled out to the "Promesa de  Los Reyes Magos which was dedicated to Oscar whose birthday is on January 6.  Project Patria y Cultura was represented by Professor Ana Lopez from New York Coordinadora and Professor Elmer Sánchez who lives in Puerto Rico and has dedicated most of his time to free Oscar. 

     Around 300 CDs were donated to several organizations involved in the struggle to liberate Oscar to help them financially with the work. Oscar knows of the song and the CD and communicates consistently with Project Patria y Cultura's President Armando Pacheco Matos. We want to make ourselves available to perform at a reduced price on any activity that have to do with Oscar or with the liberation and culture of Puerto Rico. Please visit our website www.patriaycultura.com and check us out on Facebook at Patria y Cultura. Obama Free Oscar Now!                                                        In struggle, Armando Pacheco Matos (prfree2@hotmail.com 347 581 1778)

  Website link 

     Demanding Oscar's immediate release.