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The Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc., one of Newark's most important Puerto Rican institutions, has decided to honor Oscar Lopez Rivera and to call for his immediate release by the Obama administration on a humanitarian basis. The Puerto Rican Day Parade, which will be held on Sunday, September 18, 2016 in Newark's North Ward hosts a series of activities leading to the parade, many which will also be focused on the release of Lopez Rivera. In 2016, the Puerto Rican Day Parade will celebrate its 55th Anniversary, a reflection of the vibrancy and importance of the Puerto Rican community in Newark. The Puerto Rican Day Parade joins the Newark Municipal Council who passed a resolution on December 2, 2015 calling on President Obama "to grant clemency to Oscar Lopez Rivera so that he is immediately released from prison, as his continued incarceration is unjust and serves no legitimate purpose." The New York City Municipal Council passed a similar resolution in April 2015. Oscar Lopez Rivera was imprisoned in 1981, along with 13 other men and women, and charged with seditious conspiracy for their involvement in activities for Puerto Rican independence. Lopez Rivera was made to serve 12 years of his sentence in solitary confinement. In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered to commute his sentence, as well as the sentences of all but two of his co-defendants, noting that Lopez Rivera was never convicted of specific violent crimes resulting in death or injuries, and that the sentences were "out of proportion to their crimes." Lopez Rivera, refusing to leave any co-defendants behind declined the President's offer of clemency. All of the other men and women sent to prison with Lopez Rivera have since been released and are leading productive and responsible lives. Oscar Lopez has now served over 34 years in prison.

 

Oscar Lopez Rivera has served more prison time than Nelson Mandela for similar charges of sedition. Many prominent persons, including President Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Coretta Scott King, and other Noble Peace Laureates, politicians and world leaders have called for his release. In 2013, Archbishop Desmond Tutu declared that "in any case or interpretation, justice cannot be served by keeping Oscar Lopez Rivera in prison." The United Nations Decolonization Committee has repeatedly called on the United States to release Lopez Rivera. PUERTO RICAN DAY PARADE, INC. The movement to release Oscar Lopez Rivera has become a unifying cause for the Puerto Rican people, bringing together all political parties, religious institutions, labor organizations, and people of widely diverse political beliefs in a humanitarian campaign for his release. All the Puerto Rican representatives in Congress have joined their voices to this movement, along with the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. In 2013, the present Governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who has visited Lopez Rivera in prison declared that this is "an issue that must rise above partisan affiliations and status preferences.... it touches basic issues of humanity, justice, and compassion." It is with this humanitarian vision of compassion and justice that the Puerto Rican Day Parade lends its support to this movement, as part of the overwhelming support in the Puerto Rican community for clemency for Oscar Lopez Rivera. Simply put, we are very excited to dedicate the parade to Oscar Lopez Rivera. In addition to Oscar, the parade is also dedicated to the town of San Juan, and to those whose lives have been touched by Alzheimer's disease.

 

Nelson "Butchie" Nieves, President of the Puerto Rican Parade stated that the parade

supports his release on a humanitarian basis, and would like to see Lopez Rivera march in the parade in September. Nieves stated that "after 34 years, its time to bring him home." JossueTorres, Executive Board member of the parade stated that "we are doing this because it simply makes sense. Oscar's case has transcended and is an obvious miscarriage of justice. The parade as an organization is being explicitly clear that we are honoring him solely as his case is a humanitarian issue. We have no position or viewpoint on political ideology or standing." Torres reiterated that "Now, it is our great hope that on Sunday, September 18th, Oscar will be with us. That is what we want. And to that end, our call to action is that every person, every group, every organization and entity that supports Oscar will march with us." Those groups wishing to participate in the parade can register for free at www.prdpnj.org. Torres stated that "if in the very unfortunate circumstance that he is not with us that day, we want to lift our voices up so loud, so proud, that he hears the message all the way in Indiana."

WASHINGTON.- El presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, dijo esta semana al artista puertorriqueño Lin Manuel Miranda que tiene "sobre su escritorio" la petición de clemencia del prisionero político Oscar López Rivera.

The Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc. of Newark, NJ announces that 55th Puerto Rican Parade will be dedicated to Oscar López Rivera, who has been incarcerated since 1981 for fighting for our rights and Independence of Puerto Rico.

Save the date: September 18th 2016 at 12pm - Avenida Puerto Rico (Broadway Ave.)

El Pico Duarte, se encuentra en la Cordillera Central de República Dominica. Sus más de 3,090 m.s.e.n.m., lo convierten en el pico más alto de las Antillas en el Caribe. René se ha propuesto caminar por los dificultosos senderos, para desde este imponente pico, gritar que Oscar regrese con su familia y a su Patria, como ya lo han hecho los Cinco Héroes Cubanos.

Oscar, desde su celda en la prisión estadounidense, en Terre Haute, Indiana, les envío saludos a René y a todos los caminantes que realizarán esta agotadora jornada. El compañero Fernando González compartió una celda en esa prisión con Oscar.

El Comité de Descolonización de la Organización de Naciones Unidas, en más de 10 Resoluciones, le ha reclamado a E.U.A. la inmediata liberación de Oscar. Este reclamo también lo ha apoyado la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) y el Foro de San Paulo.

No pasa un día en que desde una celda en Tennessee [SIC], uno de los luchadores más comprometidos con la independencia de Puerto Rico no desee estar "del otro lado". No hay una mañana en que desde un apartamento en Santurce, su hija, al tomar una taza de café, no piense en él. Y con el deseo de estar uno con el otro han vivido 34 años, Oscar López Rivera y su única hija, Clarisa.

Detrás de toda lucha existen personas que no han escogido su destino. Esa ha sido la historia de Clarisa, quien desde su niñez imaginó la figura de un padre que no había conocido. Oscar López Rivera, preso político puertorriqueño, estaba en el clandestinaje desde antes del 1981, año en fue apresado. Sus primeros doce años en prisión los pasó en aislamiento total. Así, su hija se fue formando sin la figura de un padre pero con la crianza de unos abuelos y una madre trabajadora, que a pesar de la pobreza, le dieron todo lo necesario para seguir adelante: una educación.

Present Standard Guest curated by Edra Soto and Josué Pellot, the FREE exhibition runs in the Michigan Avenue Galleries on the first floor of the Chicago Cultural Center this January 30-April 24. The artists each play with the manifold meanings of "present" - as in contemporary, attending or existing - and "standard" - referring to a flag or pennant, measuring tactic, guiding principle or a potent symbol of national identity. The decision to move from one's homeland is never simple, and immigrating, or any act of moving to a new country, can both produce moments of settling and endless questioning for the rest of an individual's life. The work in this exhibition reflects through a filter of Latino immigrant experiences and the artists' connection with and separation from their homes, their ancestry and their language. However, beyond this generalized and arbitrary commonality, they share little else - not artistic practice, gender identification or sexuality, or place of origin. The inescapable label "Latino/a" insists that whatever these artists do will be read through a screen of "identity" and "representation. Present Standard carefully seeks to underscore the pluralism that exists in contemporary art made by Latino/a artists. Present Standard features work by Alberto Aguilar, Candida Alvarez, Luis Miguel Bendaña, Paola Cabal, Juan Angel Chavez, Mariano Chavez, Alejandro Figueredo Díaz-Perera, Dianna Frid, Diana Gabriel, Maria Gaspar, Melissa Leandro, José Lerma, Ivan Lozano, Jorge Lucero, Victoria Martinez, Harold Mendez, Sofia Moreno, Nora Nieves, Josué Pellot, Maddie Reyna, Luis Romero, Luis Sahagun, Chris Silva, Edra Soto and Rafael E. Vera.

The economy is in shambles, and thousands of civic workers needed to fight mosquitoes have been laid off. The chemical most often used against the adult pests no longer works, and the one needed to control their larvae has been pulled from the market by regulators.