Conferencia dictada por la abogada de Oscar López Rivera en Denver, CO Compártela !!!!!!!!!!!!!! The role of academics/intellectuals in the campaign for the release of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera for the Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference, 23 – 26 October 2014, Denver, CO Jan Susler “It’s insulting to have our dear brother in prison for 32 years for simply standing up for justice.” Professor Cornel West, 20141 The primordial and necessary objective is his freedom. But I believe that that freedom represents much more ... the value of a figure like his and the value of his sacrifice, of so many years in prison. This isn’t about an individual problem; it’s a collective problem. It’s a problem about our situation in Puerto Rico. Professor Eduardo Lalo, 20142 There is no effort that is too small or not worthwhile in this work. Demanding Oscar’s release is an exercise in indignation in the face of injustice and inhumanity. It is to stand tall in the face of opprobrium. Professor Rubis Camacho, 20143 1 As Oscar López Rivera’s long time attorney, I am grateful for this opportunity to address you, and am optimistic about the amazing potential in this room to grow the campaign for his release. I didn’t come to just talk to you; I came to present you with a challenge. Oscar has been in prison for more than 33 years. President Obama has the constitutional power to grant his immediate release. He hasn’t been convinced yet, in spite of the hundreds of thousands of letters,resolutions, marches, rallies, and prayers. Time to get more academics and intellectuals on board! One of the most renowned radical intellectuals in the U.S., Noam Chomsky, observed: There is no shortage of tasks for those who choose the vocation of critical intellectuals, whatever their station in life. They can seek to sweep away the mists of carefully contrived illusion and reveal the stark reality. They can become directly engaged in popular struggles [...].4 I thought it might be helpful to give you a glimpse of who Oscar is, and to offer some examples of what has been done, what can be done, to inspire your creativity and motivate you to action. To begin with, of the thousands of men and women who have resisted Spanish and U.S. colonial occupation of Puerto Rico,5 Oscar has the dubious distinction of being the longest held political prisoner in the history of the Puerto Rican independence movement. As a result of a similar campaign, in 1999 president Bill Clinton granted executive clemency to most of the men and women who were in prison for the same charge – seditious conspiracy – after they had served 16 and 20 years in prison, commuting what he recognized as unfairly long, disproportionate sentences, given that they, like Oscar, were not convicted of harming or killing anyone. In the 33 years he has been in custody, Oscar has survived the worst prison conditions this country has to offer, including over 12 years of Guantánamo-like isolation and sensory deprivation, only to emerge with his political integrity – and his sense of humor – fully intact. I want to share with you a paragraph about him, written by a lawyer who recently traveled from Puerto Rico to see him in federal prison in Indiana, because I think it provides you an insight intothe quality of human being Oscar is: At 71 years old, his skin is smooth, his constitution is athletic, his eyes emanate all sorts of sparkles of light and energy, his look, in perfect harmony with his voice, is soft and sincere. His language is precise, eloquent, without slang or anglicisims. His wisdom is evident, without the slightest arrogance. It was very moving to meet him personally, after learning about him through our recent history, as a serious and tenacious man who struggles for the independence of Puerto Rico. It was devastating to feel that while he spent 33 years of his life in prison, we haven’t done what is needed to win the freedom of our Homeland. It was transforming to feel his hand on my shoulder and his words of consolation when I imprudently burst into tears. It was marvelous to know that he is so full of love and that he has transcended the pain of the punishment he has been subjected to. Professors, writers, and intellectuals in Puerto Rico and the United States, moved by his commitment to his beliefs, his resistance and his example, have immersed themselves in efforts to win his release. Eduardo Lalo, professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras [UPR] for the past 27 years in the Humanities Department and member of the General Studies faculty, opened the 2014 academic year with the traditional Inaugural Lesson before the hundreds of students gathered, by talking about the role of the university in a colonial context, and including these remarks: For this reason, in a place like this, where the memory of our people survives, I am taking advantage of the opportunity to address you to claim once again the liberation of Oscar López Rivera, who has been in prison in the United States for more than 33 years. In spite of the massive and general clamor of Puerto Ricans and many more citizens throughout the world who demand an end to the injustice being committed against Oscar, the government and the president of the United States persists in ignoring our demand. I wonder if it isn’t one of the functions of this university to clearly and openly join the campaign for the release someone who has sacrificed his life for the cultural and political existence of Puerto Rico. Chancellor, isn’t this a shared purpose? Wouldn’t we, as the University of Puerto Rico, thus be setting an example so that other public and private institutionswould contribute to liberate a man undeservedly punished and to show that institutional courage must be a fundamental part of institutional life? Don’t we find here, as well, the ethical leadership that our institution should exercise?7 Not only did the students loudly applaud; the chancellor, who was present in the audience, went to the podium and committed to raise the issue with the Academic Senate and to meet with the entire faculty, “so that from the University would emanate, with firm and convincing voice, the demand for the liberation of López Rivera.”8 The University is heeding his observation. In a couple weeks, the UPR Student Council, will sponsor three days of conferences in support of Oscar’s release – a conference supported by the entire university community: the President, the Chancellor, the Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarias [Association of Puerto Rican University Professors, a labor union], the Hermandad de Empleados Exentos No Docentes [Brotherhood of Non-Teaching Employees, a labor union]. Lalo is also an artist and a writer. In 2013 he was awarded the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for Literature for his novel Simone, the first Puerto Rican to earn this internationally prestigious recognition.9 Having accepted the prize from the president of Venezuela, in the middle of his acceptance speech, Lalo said: And thus I have arrived before you; I come from Puerto Rico, the last frontier of Latin America, the only Latin American country conquered two times, the country for which the Spanish colonial administration prohibited printing until the beginning of the 19th century, which did not allow the creation of a university for more than four centuries, which delivered it as war booty, as if it were a plantation or a shipment of sugar, to its new dominator, I am of that place that perhaps lived globalization before any other society, before the term or knowledge of its consequences as well as ways to oppose it even existed; I am from a country that resisted solely by force of its own culture the imperial impositions of the country that dominated and seduced it from the beginning of the 20th century; I am from the society that has a political prisoner who has spent more years in prison than anyone in the entire history of the Americas, accused of having seditiously conspired against a country he doesn’t belong to, Oscar López Rivera, who has spent 32 years in prison. His freedom is within range of one single hand of one single man; it can be achieved with a humanitarian signature, with a signature that will be worthy for all parties.10 The Latin American media widely report this significant award – and the significant mention of Oscar –;11 the Puerto Rican media lauded him,12 and the Acting Governor, Secretary of State David Bernier, welcomed him at the airport, calling him “a national ambassador.”13 In the glow of this award, Lalo has consistently campaigned for Oscar’s release, wherever he may be, and at the invitation of whomever it may be, from Amnesty International in SanJuan14 or Caguas;15 to the International Book Fair in Lima, Peru,16 to the opening of an art exhibit in Río Piedras;17 always with resulting news media coverage. The reach of such advocacy cannot be underestimated. For example, the Book Fair in Lima counted on 76 writers from all over the Americas, Europe and Asia, with 500,000 people attending...18 people who may not otherwise have been exposed to the U.S. government’s violation of Oscar’s human rights. While Lalo may be the latest, and perhaps the most currently visible face of academia’s role in the campaign for Oscar’s release, he is in good company. The trailblazer was Dr. Luis Nieves Falcón, a Professor Emeritus of University of Puerto Rico, a sociology professor who led the campaign on the ground in Puerto Rico which culminated in the 1999 presidential commutations, and who continued to work for the release of those, like Oscar, who remained in prison thereafter. A tireless advocate, he spoke and wrote extensively about the Puerto Rican political prisoners,19 as he organized inside and outside of academia. Others in that good company include Dr. José Jaime Rivera, president of the University of Sagrado Corazón, who lent the university facilities for an International Human Rights Summit dedicated to Oscar.20 Dr. Lina Torres, Sagrado Corazón’s Criminal Justice Program Coordinator,welcomed the Summit to the university, stating, In this historical moment we must urgently reaffirm our commitment to education in the field of human rights. The case of the Puerto Rican political prisoners, and in particular, that of Oscar López Rivera, should be included in every agenda or movement in defense of human rights.21 Professors on stage at the 2014 graduations of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas and the University of Puerto Rico unfurled banners proclaiming, “Oscar López Rivera, graduado con honores, ¡Libertad ahora!” as students – many of whom had painted their mortarboards with messages about Oscar – cheered.22 The Puerto Rican Association of Historians [Asociación Puertorriqueña de Historiadores] just this month convened a conference at the Colegio Universitario de San Juan to stimulate discussion and analysis about strategies to win Oscar’s release. Eloisa Gordon, Dean of Universidad Metropolitana Ana G. Méndez [UMET]’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Communications, who serves on the advisory board of the university’s Revista Cruce, and Professor Sonia Cabanillas, who serves on the editorial board, were key in dedicating an entire issue of the online magazine to Oscar and analysis of seditious conspiracy, the overtly political charge resulting in his disproportionate prison sentence.23 Along with Guillermo Rebollo Gil, our esteemed co-panelist, they convened a 2014 UMET assembly about Oscar, at which the dean and the president of the university welcomed Oscar’s daughter and his lawyer who then spoke to the students and faculty gathered. Professor Rebollo Gil has often written about Oscar, in his own blog24 and for publications in Puerto Rico25 and the United States,26 and the publications are often republished or referred to in other publications.27 At a recent presentation of DePaul University’s interdisciplinary journal Diálogo, in which his poem (entitled “Oscar López Rivera”) was published, he not only read the poem but explained who Oscar is and distributed rubber bracelets to the other poets and writers gathered, urging them to join the campaign for his release.28 And speaking of writers, the 17th International Book Fair of Puerto Rico [XVII Feria Internacional del Libro de Puerto Rico] to be held November 5-9, will be dedicated to Oscar. 29 Additionally, University of Sagrado Corazón professor and writer Rubis Camacho, recently convened Escritores y Escritoras por Oscar ... ¡Levanta tu lápiz! [Writers for Oscar ... Lift your pencil!] on the campus, as well as devoting her radio program D’Letras to the participating writers, who read their works and who each called on their fellow writers to “alzar su lápiz por la libertad de Oscar.”30 Poetas en Marcha along with El Post Antillano have announced a November event, 33 Hours of Poetry for Oscar, convening Puerto Rican and Latin American poets and writers to participate in a continuous reading in front of the U.S. court in San Juan.31 Not to be left behind, the Puerto Rico chapter of the International PEN Club, comprised of writers and academics, has articulated publicly its support “for Oscar López Rivera’s release, as an expression of justice and vindication of our freedom to choose our own destiny as a nation.”32 These examples are by no means exhaustive, but are offered to illustrate the multiple possibilities offered by the powerful positions you all hold at your respective universities. “Oh,” you may say, “sure, that’s in Puerto Rico. It’s different over there. What about here?” Here are some examples, hopefully to convince you that it can be done! José López, adjunct professor at public and private universities in Chicago (University of Illinois Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, and Columbia College), who teaches Puerto Rican history and Latinos in the U.S., works closely with student activists to facilitate presentations in his classes and encourages faculty to get involved. Several professors, including Dr. Victor Rodríguez, in Chicano & Latino Studies Department at California State University Long Beach; Dr. Ann Bishop, in Library and Information Services at University of Illinois; and Dr. Jonathon Rosa, in Linguistic and Sociocultural Anthropology at University of Massachusetts Amherst, sponsored Not Enough Space, a traveling exhibit of art created in prison by Oscar and then Puerto Rican political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres, and/or also sponsored Crime Against Humanity, a traveling play about Oscar and his fellow Puerto Rican political prisoners. Others, such as Victor Ortiz,Coordinator of the Mexican and Caribbean Studies Program at Northeastern Illinois University, mobilized their classes to attend Not Enough Space and Crime Against Humanity. Many professors, such as Dr. Laura Johnson, in Educational Research at Northern Illinois University; Dr. Dragan Milovanovic, in Justice Studies at Northeastern Illinois University; and Dr. Erica Meiners, in Educational Leadership and Development at Northeastern Illinois University, have sponsored speakers and/or held teach-in’s about Oscar. Others, like Dr. Margaret Power, of the College of Human Sciences at Illinois Institute of Technology, have written scholarly articles about Oscar and the Puerto Rican political prisoners.33 Ana López, professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program in theDepartment of Humanities, regularly sponsors student activities at Hostos Community College inthe Bronx, including in 2013 a “conversatorio” with four former political prisoners, and a protest performance for Oscar’s release, during which hundreds of students took turns being “prisoners” in a “prison cell” at the college.34 She has organized workshops at conferences such as Left Forum,35 has spoken about Oscar at the United Nations ecolonization Committee,36 and has written about his case.37 And then there are the “superstars,” who understand the significance of lending their name, as well as the significance of timing. For example, Cornel West, a “prominent and provocative democratic intellectual,”38 a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, Harvard and the Union Theological Seminary, spoke on the occasion of Black History Month this year, calling for Oscar’s release.39 “I want the world to know that Oscar López Rivera is my brother,”40 West emphasized, reminding those gathered of the close relationship between the Black liberation struggle and the Puerto Rican independence struggle,and how Oscar’s love, the quality of his service, his example of how integrity faces oppression, keep him in our memories. Making these important connections, he urged people to action: “When you love every day people, you hate the fact that they are being treated unfairly, you loathe the fact that they are being treated unjustly, and if you don’t do something, the rocks are going to cry out.” The renowned Angela Davis, professor emerita of University of California Santa Cruz, herself a former political prisoner, often mentions Oscar in her presentations throughout the U.S. Academic organizations have similarly offered a platform to raise Oscar’s case, including the American Studies Association annual meeting in 2012, held in San Juan, included aworkshop about Oscar in the context of the struggle against U.S. colonialism;41 as did the Latin American Studies Association conference in 2014 in Chicago and LatCrit, or Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory, Inc., at its 2013 conference in Chicago. And what about inviting Oscar to speak at your commencement (an idea borrowed from another political prisoner)?42 Not convinced yet? Well, consider this: By the time President Obama’s second term in office ends, Oscar will be 73 years old, and will have served an unprecedented 35 years in prison. No political prisoner in the history of Puerto Rico’s centuries-long struggle for independence has ever been held so long. The Puerto Rican people, from the governor to the amas de casa who read Oscar’s letters to his granddaughter, published in a bi-weekly column in the main daily newspaper, support his release. The international community, from the United Nations Decolonization Committee to the Non Aligned Movement to Nobel Peace Prize laureates support his release. In the U.S., unions (SEIU, AFL-CIO, AFSCME), elected officials, churches, and, yes, academics ... though not enough of them! ... support Oscar’s release. The governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro García Padilla, who just came from visiting him in prison, said, “The sentence imposed on Oscar López Rivera is not only excessive, but violates principles of justice, humanity and sensitivity. It’s time for Oscar to return home.”43 Indeed ...Your colleagues in Puerto Rico and the U.S. will hopefully provide a springboard for our imagination and creativity, to teach and expose your students; organize your fellow faculty, your union, your academic senate, your university officials to write letters and pass resolutions supporting Oscar’s release – and beyond. Visit Scholars for Oscar, for links to sample letters, curricula, and ideas. As Professor Rubis Camacho, of Escritores y Escritoras por Oscar urges: The freedom of Oscar López Rivera is the cause of the Puerto Rican community, becaue it is the defense of our human rights. It extends beyond the fruitless dichotomies which are often the product of not knowing where we are headed as a nation; of the terrible absence of models, and the silence of other institutions called to make a transformation. Even in the middle of this, we can recognize the torture of an abusive sentence (33 years, 12 in solitary confinement). The nobility and dignity of Puerto Rican men and women flourishes. Our country opts for life.44 I hope we can count on your brilliant minds and access to vast resources to take the campaign for Oscar’s release to new heights, so together we can move the president to grant his release, NOW! Thank you. October 17, 2014 Referencias 1Cornel West Introduction - Oscar Lopez Rivera Event, Trinity Sunset Park Media, February 28, 2014, https://youtube/watch?v=Q_cNhl8nE6g. 2Natalia Ramos Malavé, “Oscar López, el puertorriqueño -Parte II, Entrevista a Eduardo Lalo,” Radio Universidad de Puerto Rico, April 21, 2014. 3Carlos Esteban Cana, “Escritores en Puerto Rico se solidarizan con la excarcelación de Oscar López Rivera,” Global Voices, October 16, 2014, es.globalvoicesonline.org/2014/10/16/escritores-en-puerto-rico-se-solidarizan-con-la-excarcelacion-de-oscar-l opez-rivera/ (translated from the original Spanish). 4Noam Chomsky, The Radical Intellectual, text of lecture delivered at the Haven Center, Madison, Wisconsin, April 8, 2010, chomsky.info/talks/20100408.htm. 5José “Ché” Paralitici, Sentencia Impuesta: 100 años de encarcelamientos por la independencia de Puerto Rico (Ediciones Puerto, 2004, Puerto Rico). 6Rafael Emmanuelli Jiménez, “He conocido a un gigante,” Claridad, September 30, 2014, claridadpuertorico/content.html?news=DC8B17A306FD07916C1F8F5C0EBAF698. 7Eduardo Lalo, “Las dos universidades,” August 29, 2014, 80grados.net/las-dos-universidades/, (translated from the original Spanish); “Eduardo Lalo insiste en liberación de Oscar López Rivera,” noticias247prtv, August 27, 2014, https://youtube/watch?v=T2ur7HcLc2Q. 8Gabriela Saker Jiménez, “Eduardo Lalo reclama excarcelación de Oscar López Rivera,” Dialogo Digital, August 29, 2014, dialogodigital.upr.edu/index.php/Eduardo-Lalo-reclama-excarcelacion-de-Oscar-Lopez-Rivera.html#.VB5IKP ldW1c. 9The prize was created in honor of the Venezuelan politician and President Rómulo Gallegos, to perpetuate his literary work and “to stimulate the creative activity of Spanish language writers. goodreads/award/show/538-premio-internacional-de-novela-r-mulo-gallegos. 10Discurso de Eduardo Lalo al recibir el Premio Rómulo Gallegos, Revolución o muerte, August 2, 2013, revolucionomuerte.org/index.php/discursos/discursos-de-nicolas-maduro/1281-lea-el-discurso-integro-de l-presidente-nicolas-maduro-en-la-entrega-de-la-xvii-edicion-del-premio-internacional-de-novela-romulo-gallegos (translated from the original Spanish). 11“Presidente Maduro bautizó obra de Eduardo Lalo, ganadora del Premio Rómulo Gallegos, Alba Ciudad, 2 agosto, 2013, albaciudad.org/wp/index.php/2013/08/presidente-maduro-bautizo-obra-ganadora-del-premio-romulo-gallegos/; “El escritor puertorriqueño Eduardo Lalo Gano el Premio Romulo Gallegos,” August 3, 2013, noticias.terra.ar/sociedad/el-escritor-puertorriqueno-eduardo-lalo-gano-el-premio-romulo-gallegos,9ace94 fdabe30410VgnCLD2000000dc6eb0aRCRD.html. 12See, e.g., EFE, “Eduardo Lalo reivindica la independencia al recibir el Rómulo Gallegos,” NotiCel, August 2, 2013, noticel/noticia/145870/eduardo-lalo-reivindica-la-independencia-al-recibir-el-romulo-gallegos.html. 13“Bernier reconoce a Lalo como embajador nacional,” NotiCel, August 4, 2013, noticel/noticia/145882/bernier-reconoce-a-lalo-como-embajador-nacional.html. 14“Amnistía Internacional y Eduardo Lalo abogarán por Oscar López Rivera: El escritor liderará campaña por la excarcelación del preso político,” El Nuevo Día, December 5, 2013, elnuevodia/amnistiainternacionalyeduardolaloabogaranporoscarlopezrivera-1660013.html; CID, “Amnistía Internacional y Eduardo Lalo en solidaridad con Oscar López Rivera,” Diálogo Digital, December 10, 2013, dialogodigital.upr.edu/index.php/Amnistia-Internacional-en-solidaridad-con-Oscar-Lopez-Rivera.html#.VB8h GfldW1c. 15EFE, “Eduardo Lalo, orador en asamblea de Amnistía Internacional en Puerto Rico,” Latino Fox News, June 11, 2014, latino.foxnews/latino/espanol/2014/06/11/eduardo-lalo-orador-en-asamblea-de-amnistia-internacional-enpuerto- rico/. 16Robert Laime, “Se inauguró la 18° Feria Internacional del Libro de Lima: La ceremonia de inauguración tuvo algunos eventos inesperados como protestas de grupos ambientalistas y un encendido discurso de Eduardo Lalo en defensa de la autonomía puertorriqueña,” July 19, 2013, https://tvrobles.lamula.pe/2013/07/19/se-inauguro-la-18-feria-internacional-del-libro-de-lima/tvrobles/. 17Eduarto Lalo, “Palabras para Oscar López Rivera,” 80grados, September 20, 2013, 80grados.net/palabras-para-oscar-lopez-rivera/; Daniel Nina, “Oscar López es Río Piedras, El Post Antillano, September 20, 2013, elpostantillano/cultura/7298-daniel-nina.html. 18Robert Laime, “Se inauguró la 18° Feria Internacional del Libro de Lima: La ceremonia de inauguración tuvo algunos eventos inesperados como protestas de grupos ambientalistas y un encendido discurso de Eduardo Lalo en defensa de la autonomía puertorriqueña,” July 19, 2013, https://tvrobles.lamula.pe/2013/07/19/se-inauguro-la-18-feria-internacional-del-libro-de-lima/tvrobles/. 19See, e.g., Luis Nieves Falcón, Recoge tu destino borincano, (Ofensiva 92, Puerto Rico, 1992); Luis Nieves Falcón, Violation of Human Rights in Puerto Rico by the United States (Ediciones Puerto, Puerto Rico, 2002); Luis Nieves Falcón, La luz desde la ventana: Conversaciones con Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (Ediciones Puerto, Puerto Rico, 2002); Luis Nieves Falcón, Un siglo de represión política en Puerto Rico (1898-1998) (Puerto Rico, 2009). 20“Encuentro por los derechos humanos desde hoy en la USC,” Telemundo, December 7, 2012, telemundopr/telenoticias/puerto-rico/Encuentro-por-los-derechos-humanos-desde-hoy-en-la-USC-1 82515051.html?m=y&smobile=y. 21“Se encuentran líderes de los derechos humanos,” 80grados, December 7, 2012, 80grados.net/se-encuentran-lideres-de-los-derechos-humanos/. 22“Más de 50 nuevos artistas: Celebran graduación de la Escuela de Artes Plásticas mientras estudiantes y profesores pedían la excarcelación de Oscar López Rivera,” El Nuevo Día, June 20, 2014, elnuevodia/Xstatic/endi/template/imprimir.aspx?id=1797503&t=3; elnuevodia/masde50nuevosartistas-1797503.html#.U6P8XJA5aww.facebook; David Cordero Mercado, “La IUPI celebra sus actos de graduación,” Diálogo Digital, June 11, 2014, m.dialogodigital/index.php/La-IUPI-celebra-sus-actos-de-graduacion.html#.VDmrTfnF-1c. 23Sonia Cabanillas, “Comentarios sobre la historia de la conspiración sediciosa,” Revista Cruce, 2013, revistacruce/politica-sociedad/comentarios-sobre-la-historia-de-la-conspiracion-sediciosa.html; José J. Nazario de la Rosa, “Sobre la conspiración sediciosa y Oscar López Rivera,” revistacruce/politica-sociedad/conspiracion-sediciosa-y-el-caso-de-oscar-lopez-rivera.html; Jan Susler, “Buenos y malos esclavos o la libertad como crimen: testimonio de Oscar López Rivera, revistacruce/politica-sociedad/buenos-y-malos-esclavos-o-la-libertad-como-crimen-testimonio-de-oscar-lo pez-rivera.html; Manuel Martínez Maldonado, “Oscar López, preso por la historia,” revistacruce/politica-sociedad/conspiracion-sediciosa-oscar-lopez-preso-por-la-historia.html; Fernando Cabanillas, “Conspiración sediciosa: el caso de Nelson Mandela,” revistacruce/politica-sociedad/conspiracion-sediciosa-el-caso-de-nelson-mandela.html; Roxanna D. Domenech Cruz, “Las mujeres y la conspiración sediciosa,” revistacruce/politica-sociedad/las-mujeres-y-la-conspiracion-sediciosa.html. 24Empty Lots, patternofthething.blogspot/. 25See, e.g., Guillermo Rebollo Gil, “La conve,” Diálogo Digital, May 16, 2014, dialogodigital/index.php/La-conve.html#.VB8-yfldW1c; Guillermo Rebollo Gil, “Cinco minicrónicas de lugar,” Diálogo Digital, September 10, 2014, dialogodigital.upr.edu/index.php/Cinco-minicronicas-de-lugar.html#.VB8_wPldW1c. 26Guillermo Rebollo Gil, “Open Letter to President Obama: A Pardon for Oscar López Rivera,” CounterPunch, November 28, 2013, counterpunch.org/2013/11/28/a-pardon-for-oscar-lopez-rivera/. 27See, e.g., Ángel Carrión, “Oscar López Rivera Has Spent 33 Years Behind Bars in the US. Puerto Ricans Say Thats 33 Too Many,” Global Voices Online, July 11, 2014, globalvoicesonline.org/2014/07/11/oscar-lopez-rivera-has-spent-33-years-behind-bars-in-the-us-puerto-ricanssay- thats-33-too-many/. 28Diálogo: an Interdisciplinary Journal of the Center for Latino Research at DePaul University (Chicago, Vol. 17, No. 2, Fall 2014). 29filpuertorico.org/2013/09/30/fil-pr-2013-un-libro-una-palabra-una-accion/. 30Daniel Nina, “Rubis Camacho convocó D’Letras, Escritores y Escritoras por Oscar López” El Post Antillano, September 29, 2014, elpostantillano/justicia-social/11829-daniel-nina.html; Carlos Esteban Cana, “Escritores en Puerto Rico se solidarizan con la excarcelación de Oscar López Rivera,” Global Voices, October 16, 2014, es.globalvoicesonline.org/2014/10/16/escritores-en-puerto-rico-se-solidarizan-con-la-excarcelacion-de-oscar-l opez-rivera/. 31For more information: poetasenmarcha@gmail. 32José E. Muratti Toro / Presidente de la Junta de Directores del PEN Club de Puerto Rico, “¿Qué es el PEN Club?” El Nuevo Día, September 27, 2014, elnuevodia/columna-queeselpenclub-1862215.html. (translated from the original Spanish). The PEN Charter may be found at pen-international.org/pen-charter/. 33Margaret Power, “Last but Not Least: The Fight to Release Oscar López Rivera,” NACLA Report on the Americas Vol. 44, No. 1, January/February 2011; Margaret Power, “From Freedom Fighters to Patriots: The Successful Campaign to Release the FALN Political Prisoners, 1980-1999,” Centro Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, Spring 2013. 34Peter Thierjung, “NY events help win support to free Oscar López Rivera,” The Militant, November 11, 2013, themilitant/2013/7740/774054.html. 35leftforum.org/category/panel-chair/%5Bcatpath-raw%5D-315. 36United Nations Department of Public Information, “Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Supporting Puerto Rico’s ‘Inalienable Right to Self-determination’: Speakers Call on United States to ‘End Subjugation’, Release Political Prisoners,” June 2014, un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/gacol3269.doc.htm. 37Ana M. López and Gabriela Reardon, “Puerto Rico at the United Nations,” NACLA, 2005, https://nacla.org/article/puerto-rico-united-nations. 38cornelwest/bio.html#.VDNRL_ldW1c. 39“The Struggle to Free Oscar López, Black History Month Event, Trinity Lutheran Church, February 24, 2014, trinitybrooklyn.org/black-history-month-event-cornel-west-struggle-free-oscar-lopez/. 40Cornel West Introduction - Oscar Lopez Rivera Event, Trinity Sunset Park Media, February 28, 2014, https://youtube/watch?v=Q_cNhl8nE6g. 41asa.press.jhu.edu/program12/ASA_program.pdf, at p. 31; Oscar Lopez Rivera Statement to the American Studies Association in Puerto Rico, November 2012, dogmaandgeopolitics.wordpress/2012/11/24/oscar-lopez-rivera-statement-to-the-american-studies-associa tion-in-puerto-rico/. 42Goddard College press release, “Mumia Abu-Jamal to Give Commencement Speech at Goddard College: Inmate Journalist and Goddard Graduate to Address Newest Class of Radical Thinkers,” September 29, 2014, goddard.edu/news-events/press-releases/mumia-abu-jamal-give-commencement-speech-goddard-college. 43“Governor visits Oscar López Rivera,” October 4, 2014, fortaleza.pr.gov/node/791; “García Padilla visitó en Indiana al prisionero político Oscar López Rivera: Acudió a la cárcel de Terre Haute junto al congresista Gutiérrez, El Nuevo Día, October 4, 2014, elnuevodia/garciapadillavisitoenindianaalprisioneropoliticooscarlopezrivera-1866764.html 44Carlos Esteban Cana, “Escritores en Puerto Rico se solidarizan con la excarcelación de Oscar López Rivera,” Global Voices, October 16, 2014, es.globalvoicesonline.org/2014/10/16/escritores-en-puerto-rico-se-solidarizan-con-la-excarcelacion-de-oscar-l opez-rivera/.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 13:47:21 +0000
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