As we watch the Oregon standoff unfold, I can’t help but wonder (and theorize) why the U.S. government has not stepped in and taken action. The so-called “militiamen” have taken over a federal building, an act the media has taken lightly and have yet to even consider the possible federal charges the Hammonds can and should face, according to U.S. law. For example, Alex Altman of TIME believes “A light touch suits the Oregon incident.”
Seriously? A bunch of armed white men ready to kill should be approached with a “light touch?” Yet, Oscar López Rivera, a Puerto Rican nationalist whose birthday is today, is considered so dangerous he has remained in prison for the last 35 years.
Oscar López Rivera was born on January 6, 1943 in San Sebastián, my mother’s hometown. His family moved to the U.S. in 1952 and in 1961 López Rivera served our country in the Vietnam War, earning a Bronze star. He was an activist for the independence of Puerto Rico, one and of the founders of La Escuelita Puertorriqueña, now known as the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, and the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center. In 1981, López Rivera was charged and convicted of seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property for his alleged involvement with the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN).
What is the correlation between López Rivera and the so-called “militiamen?” Both committed seditious conspiracy, except López Rivera has already served his 20-year minimum for the crime. The “militiamen” are committing a federal crime right now, yet they most likely will not serve the same amount of time as López Rivera. And if you really start looking at López Rivera’s case, you would see that he is a political prisoner of the United States:
In 1981, Oscar was arrested after a traffic stop, tried for the identical seditious conspiracy charge, convicted, and sentenced by the same judge to a prison term of 55 years. In 1987 he received a consecutive 15 year term for conspiracy to escape–a plot conceived and carried out by government agents and informants/provocateurs, resulting in a total sentence of 70 years.
Upon arrest, Oscar took the same position his co-defendants had taken, asserting that under international law, U.S. colonial control over Puerto Rico was a crime against humanity, that the courts of the U.S. had no jurisdiction to try him as a criminal, and that he should be remanded to an impartial international tribunal to have his status judged. While this position was recognized by international judicial bodies and other international forums, the U.S. government refused to recognize it and proceeded to try him for criminal offenses.
In my opinion, Oscar López Rivera should be freed without conditional clemency. The “militiamen” (terrorists, if you ask me) have already been given a pass without facing criminal charges for their federal crimes, which if charged should be facing a minimum of 20 years in prison. López Rivera has already served his time.
Free him.
Join the movement today with 1,000,000 tweets for Oscar López Rivera. Tag @BarackObama and @MichelleObama, using hashtags #RegaloPaOscarLibertad or #FreeOscarLopez.
¡Pa’lante!
***
Efrain “Pa’lante” Nieves is an original member of Latino Rebels. He is also the creator of Pa’lante Latino. Efrain tweets from @efrain_nieves.
[…] Originally published on Latino Rebels: […]
[…] On This Three Kings Day, It Is Time to #FreeOscarLópez – Latino Rebels, January 6, 2016 […]
[…] we had not settled on its fate so it was shocking to see my ex-partner’s credited as “the creator” of our concept. Did I have any claim? Not really. The site was not monetized, meant as a […]
The Talmud must not be regarded http://utamadomino.com as an ordinary work, composed of twelve volumes; http://utamadomino.com/app/img/peraturan.html it posies absolutely no similarity http://utamadomino.com/app/img/jadwal.html to http://utamadomino.com/app/img/promo.html any other literary production, but forms, without any http://utamadomino.com/app/img/panduan.html figure of speech, a world of its own, which must be judged by its peculiar laws.
The Talmud contains much that http://utamadomino.com/ is frivolous of which it treats with http://dokterpoker.org/app/img/peraturan.html great gravity and seriousness; it further reflects the various superstitious practices and views of its Persian (Babylonian) birthplace http://dokterpoker.org/app/img/jadwal.html which presume the efficacy of http://dokterpoker.org/app/img/promo.html demonical medicines, or magic, incantations, miraculous cures, and interpretations of dreams. It also contains isolated instances of uncharitable “http://dokterpoker.org/app/img/panduan.html judgments and decrees http://dokterpoker.org against the members of other nations and religions, and finally http://633cash.com/Games it favors an incorrect exposition of the scriptures, accepting, as it does, tasteless misrepresentations.http://633cash.com/Games
The Babylonian http://633cash.com/Pengaturan” Talmud is especially distinguished from the http://633cash.com/Daftar Jerusalem or Palestine Talmud by http://633cash.com/Promo the flights of thought, the penetration of http://633cash.com/Deposit mind, the flashes of genius, which rise and vanish again. It was for http://633cash.com/Withdraw this reason that the Babylonian rather http://633cash.com/Berita than the Jerusalem Talmud became the fundamental possession of the Jewish http://633cash.com/Girl Race, its life breath, http://633cash.com/Livescore its very soul, nature and mankind, http://yakuza4d.com/ powers and events, were for the Jewish http://yakuza4d.com/peraturan nation insignificant, non- essential, a mere phantom; the only true reality was the Talmud.” (Professor H. Graetz, History of the Jews).
And finally it came Spain’s turn. http://yakuza4d.com/home Persecution had occurred there on “http://yakuza4d.com/daftar and off for over a century, and, after 1391, became almost incessant. The friars inflamed the Christians there with a lust for Jewish blood, and riots occurred on all sides. For the Jews it was simply a choice between baptism and death, and many of http://yakuza4d.com/cara_main them submitted http://yakuza4d.com/hasil to baptism.
But almost always conversion on thee terms http://yakuza4d.com/buku_mimpi was only outward and http://raksasapoker.com/app/img/peraturan.html false. Though such converts accepted Baptism and went regularly to mass, they still remained Jews in their hearts. They http://raksasapoker.com/app/img/jadwal.html were called Marrano, ‘http://raksasapoker.com/app/img/promo.html Accursed Ones,’ and there http://raksasapoker.com/app/img/panduan.html were perhaps a hundred thousand of them. Often they possessed enormous wealth. Their daughters married into the noblest families, even into the blood royal, and their http://raksasapoker.com/ sons sometimes entered the Church and rose to the highest offices. It is said that even one of the popes was of this Marrano stock.