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<font size=3><br><br>
</font><font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4><b>San
Sebasti</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>á</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>n Embraces Oscar
L</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ó</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>pez Rivera: 25 Years of
Resistance<br><br>
</b>"Our mother died of Alzheimer’s. By the time of her last visit
to Oscar, she was already beginning to forget. He was in the Control
Unit. All of his visits were behind glass; you talked with him on the
telephone. What did she say after that visit? ‘I couldn’t touch
him.’" From the audience, an audible sound of anguish as they
listened to Oscar’s brother, professor
Jos</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>é</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>
L</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ó</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>pez, recount some of the
family’s experiences as they marked the 25<sup>th</sup> anniversary of
Oscar’s arrest. <br><br>
The
Comit</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>é</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4> Pro Derechos Humanos
(West) sponsored the "Abrazo Pepiniano" at the Coliseo Luis
Aymat Cardona in San
Sebasti</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>á</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>n, Oscar’s hometown, and
still the family’s home. After Sra. Fela Sotomayor gave the invocation,
Mayor Javier
Jim</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>é</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>nez welcomed the
gathering, which included Oscar’s sister Mercedes and many other members
of the
L</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ó</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>pez family, former
political prisoners Luis Rosa, Adolfo Matos, Alicia
Rodr</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>í</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>guez, and Orlando
Gonz</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>á</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>lez Claudio, as well as
people from Aguadilla, Aibonito, Cayey, Adjuntas, Lajas, Aguada,
Mayag</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ü</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>ez, and other parts of the
island. He urged people to act with passion, regardless of their
political persuasion, in the face of such abuse of fellow Puerto Ricans.
Comit</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>é</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4> Pro Derechos Humanos
spokesperson Eduardo Villanueva echoed the mayor’s sentiments.<br><br>
As keynote speaker, Professor
L</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ó</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>pez placed the family’s
migration to Chicago in the context of the mass Puerto Rican migration of
the 1950's, and explained Oscar’s role in developing the community of
resistance, embodied today in Paseo Boricua’s many community based
institutions. He recalled how Oscar returned from experience in Viet Nam
to protest the war, leading to his expulsion from Roosevelt University,
how he struggled to improve the miserable conditions in which Puerto
Ricans lived, how the resulting repression ultimately led to clandestine
activity. "The last time I saw Oscar in 1976, he said to me, ‘I have
to go away, but I want you to promise me to keep the struggle alive.’ I
didn’t see him again until he was arrested in 1981. We have a huge
family... my mother was one of 21 children. We had family we had never
met, but in 1976, after Oscar left, the FBI tracked them all down. And in
Chicago they served us with subpoenas for the grand jury."<br><br>
Oscar’s years in prison have not been easy: "He was 12 years in
Control Units, longer than any other prisoner. Do you know what it is to
be in a cell, all alone, 23 ½ hours a day? When they first put him into
the Control Unit, he refused visits, all visits, even from Jan [Susler,
his attorney], for a year. He wanted to learn to live with solitude. When
he was ready to have visits again, he let us know. He learned to resist
in a new way." But, explained Professor
L</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ó</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>pez, the visits were
difficult. "My mother visited him with Karina [Oscar’s
granddaughter], who was six years old at the time. Karina put her hand up
on the glass and said, ‘Grampa, put your hand up on the other side of the
glass, so we can hold hands.’ She was able to imagine, something her
great grandmother couldn’t do."<br><br>
He spoke of other manifestations of resistance by Oscar and Carlos
Alberto Torres, who has served 26 years behind bars, including their art.
Professor
L</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ó</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>pez had just returned from
San Francisco, where he spoke at Mission Cultural Center’s opening of
"Not Enough Space," the traveling exhibit of their paintings,
drawings and ceramics, noting that hundreds of people attended.<br><br>
In closing, master of ceremonies, Aguadilla attorney Juan Crespo, invited
all to participate in the campaign for the release of Oscar and Carlos
Alberto. Yomaira Lugo
V</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>é</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>lez gave a dramatic
recitation of Juan Antonio Corretjer’s <i>Distancias</i>, and the
activity ended with an emotional rendition of <i>La
Borinque</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>ñ</font>
<font face="Bookman Old Style, Bookman" size=4>a</i>.<br><br>
Jan Susler <br><br>
May 29, 2006<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
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