Who is Oscar Lopez Rivera?Oscar Lopez Rivera is a Puerto

Rican Nationalist and prisoner of warwho was convicted and sentenced to70 years in prison for seditious conspir-acy and various other offenses.

Early Years and Personal LifeOscar Lopez Rivera was born in San

Sebasti·n, Puerto Rico on January 6,1943. His family moved to the U.S.when he was nine years old. At the ageof 14, he moved to Chicago to live witha sister. At age 18 he was drafted intothe army and served in Viet Nam andawarded the Bronze Star. When hereturned to Illinois from the war in1967, he found that drugs, unemploy-ment, housing, health care and educa-tion in the Puerto Rican community hadreached dire levels and set to work incommunity organizations to improvethe quality of life for his people.

He was a well-respected communityactivist and an independence leader formany years prior to his arrest. Oscarworked in the creation of both thePuerto Rican High School and thePuerto Rican Cultural Center. He wasalso involved in the struggle for bilin-gual education in public schools and toforce universities to actively recruitLatino students, staff, and faculty. Heworked on ending discrimination inpublic utilities like Illinois Bell, People’sGas, and Commonwealth Edison.

Oscar was one of the founders of theRafael Cancel Miranda High School,now known as the Dr. Pedro Albizu

Campos High School and the JuanAntonio Corretjer Puerto Rican CulturalCenter. He was a community organizerfor the Northwest CommunityOrganization (NCO), ASSPA, ASPIRAand the 1st Congregational Church ofChicago. He helped to found FREE, ahalf-way house for convicted drugaddicts, and ALAS, an educational pro-gram for Latino prisoners at StatevillePrison in Illinois.

Seditious ConspiracyThe U.S. Government describes

Lopez Rivera as one of the leaders ofthe Fuerzas Armadas de LiberacionNacional (FALN), a Puerto RicanNationalist group that actively engagedin armed action in support of PuertoRicanís independence from the UnitedStates.

In 1980-81, Lopez Rivera and theother Chicago-based FALN comradeswere arrested and sentenced for theirparticipation in the Puerto Rican inde-pendence struggle. All were indicted onvarious charges related to 28 bombingsin the Chicago area between 1976 and1980. They were convicted of sedi-tious conspiracy (“attempt to overthrowthe government of the United States inPuerto Rico by force”), armed robbery,and lesser offenses. Lopez Rivera

refused to participate in the trial,declaring himself a prisoner of war.

Lopez Rivera was given a 70-yearfederal sentence for seditious conspira-cy and other charges. Among the otherconvicted Puerto Rican nationaliststhere were sentences of as long as 90years in Federal prisons for offensesincluding sedition, possession of unreg-istered firearms, interstate transporta-tion of a stolen vehicle, interferencewith interstate commerce by violenceand interstate transportation of firearmswith intent to commit a crime.

In 1986, FBI foiled a plan to liberateOscar Lopez Rivera from Leavenworth,KS. The alleged plot involved landing ahelicopter stocked with machine gunsand explosives in a prison yard.However, the plan was interruptedwhen the FBI infiltrated to plot.Lopez Rivera was later convicted ofconspiracy to escape and given anadditional 15 years for his involvementin the plot.

Human Rights ViolationsThere were reports of human rights

violations against the FALN prisoners.The prisoners were placed in prisonsfar from their families, some were sexu-ally assaulted by prison personnel,some were denied adequate medicalattention, and others were kept in iso-lated underground prison cells for noreason. Amnesty International and theHouse of Representatives’Subcommittee on Courts, IntellectualProperty and the Administration ofJustice both criticized the conditions.The conditions were found to be in vio-

lation of the U.N. Standard MinimumRules for the Treatment of Prisoners. Afederal judge also addressed his con-cerns in the case of Baraldine vs.Meese.

Political PrisonerAt the time of their arrest Lopez

Rivera and the others declared them-selves to be combatants in an anti-colonial war against the United Statesto liberate Puerto Rico from U.S. domi-nation and invoked prisoner of war sta-tus. They argued that the U.S. courtsdid not have jurisdiction to try them ascriminals and petitioned for their casesto be handed over to an internationalcourt that would determine their status.The U.S. Government, however, didnot recognize their request.

On September 11, 1999, PresidentBill Clinton extended an offer ofclemency to 16 of the Puerto Ricanpolitical prisoners. Eveln accepted theoffers were subsequently released.Juan Enrique Segarra-Palmer, whowas sentenced to 35 years in prison onOctober 4, 1985, also accepted theclemency but was to become eligiblefor release in September, 2004.However, Lopez Rivera rejected theoffer because he refused to stay out ofthe Puerto Rico Independence militantactivities.

In 2006, the United Nations called forthe release of the remaining PuertoRican political prisoners in UnitedStates prisons. However, Oscar LopezRivera release date is scheduled forJune 26, 2023.

Write to the Puerto Rican POW at:

Oscar Lopez Rivera#87651-024

U.S. PenitentiaryP.O. Box 12015

Terre Haute, IN 47808

Organizations Supporting the Oscar Lopez Rivera:

Anarchist Black Cross Federation(ABCF)

P.O. Box 11223Whittier, CA 90604

la@abcf.net

YOU CAN HELP BY GIVING POLITI-CAL PRISONERS A VOICE AND VISI-

BILITY

THE TRUTH CAN SET THEM FREE!

Puerto Rican Prisoner ofWar Serving 70 Years

For His Particpation in theIndependance Movement

Oscar Lopez RiveraFree the Puerto Rico POW’s