[Pnews] Puerto Rico - 33 Day Walk for Oscar López Rivera Successful

[Prisoner News]

  33 Day Walk for Oscar López Successful


  By: Alberto Rodríguez

*http://peopleslawoffice.com/33-day-walk-oscar-lopez-successful/*

May 2014 was an exciting and historic month in the three decade long 
campaign to free Puerto Rican Political Prisoner, Oscar López Rivera. 
Oscar is the longest held Puerto Rican Political Prisoner convicted in 
  U.S. federal court for seditious conspiracy for his commitment to the 
independence of Puerto Rico. Commemorating the anniversary of his 33 
years in captivity, the campaign for his release organized "la Caminata 
Nacional 33 en 33 por Oscar." (33 in 33 Walk for Oscar). This walk began 
April 27 in the small central
town of Gurabo and toured 33  towns in 33 days to raise awareness about 
the case of López Rivera and to gather support for the  call for his 
release.

Each day one town was connected with another in a  333 mile walk through 
winding mountainous roads. While a small, hearty core group of activists 
and supporters participated in consecutive daily walks, each town added 
its own flavor, sometimes its own mayor, and often hundreds of walkers 
---  an eclectic group of young people, seniors, athletes, elementary, 
high school and college students, unions, musicians, civic and religious 
groups, elected officials, those in wheel chairs  and the able bodied, 
pro-independence activists,  supporters of the present political status 
with the U.S., as well as supporters of statehood.

People in small rural villages and barrios stood and waited at their 
front gates for the "Caminata". Passing cars blasted their horns and 
shouted their support. Children came out of their classrooms to shout 
approval and display signs they made themselves, of love and support for 
Oscar. Some schools even allowed their students to leave the classroom 
to join the walk.

When the walk reached each town's plaza, a beautiful cultural event took 
place with music and poetry. Under a blazing afternoon sun, children 
sang while others read their writings dedicated to Oscar.

As the walk in the mountains was underway, another event took place in 
San Juan called "Al Mar X Oscar" (To the sea for Oscar), inspired by a 
letter from prison to his granddaughter Karina, in which he wrote, "... 
after the family, what I miss the most is the sea. It's been 35 years 
since the last time I saw it." On a beautiful Sunday afternoon on May 
25, hundreds marched along the waterfront of Old San Juan while row 
boats, paddle boats, rafts, kayaks, fishing boats, long Asian inspired 
dragon boats, jet skis, practically anything that could float 
accompanied them. At the foot of the century old walls of the Spanish 
fort, El Morro, the water crafts landed with a "cabezudo" papier-mache 
puppet head representing Oscar wading on shore symbolically representing 
his arrival to Puerto Rico by sea. Oscar's daughter Clarisa López and 
granddaughter Karina Valentín emotionally greeted the symbolic Oscar. At 
a cultural and political rally held in front of El Morro, Clarisa 
stated, "We are going to achieve what seems the impossible ... returning 
my father to the motherland ..." The multitude present shouted their 
approval.

On May 29 the Caminata arrived in front of the Federal Building in San 
Juan after successfully visiting 33 towns in 33 days. In solidarity with 
the Caminata, Oscar walked 333 miles in those 33 days, in the prison 
yard. The women who meet the last Sunday of  every month on the Dos 
Hermanos Bridge demanding Oscar's release marched from the bridge in Old 
San Juan to the Federal Building in the financial district of San 
Juan.Headed by Oscar's daughter Clarisa and the President of the Bar 
Association, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, dressed in pink t- shirts, with 
flags and posters with messages of support. Then the Caminata arrived, 
headed by a giant key held by some of the former Puerto Rican Political 
Prisoners released in 1999 by presidential commutation of their 
excessive sentences. Behind them were delegations from each of the towns 
that the Caminata had marched through, along with artists, athletes and 
members of different political parties as well as civic and religious 
organizations. The Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, and former 
political prisoner Rafael Cancel Miranda were present. A rally of 
celebration and joy followed the end of the Caminata. Oscar's attorney 
Jan Susler, a partner in the People's Law Office, stated that the work 
in Puerto Rico around Oscar's release was having positive results in the 
U.S. She mentioned that this year's Puerto Rican Parade in New York was 
paying tribute to Oscar and calling for  his release. She said, "I ask 
you to continue with that consistency, that emotion that inspires us to 
continue working for Oscar's release."

The Puerto Rican people have sent a powerful message to the White House 
that we want Oscar López Rivera released from U.S. custody now. In the 
midst of the worst economic crisis the island has experienced in 
decades, high energy and food costs, mass exodus to the U.S., primarily 
of the young and the educated, a crumbling education and health system, 
a rise in crime and the insecurity and anxiety it creates; Oscar López 
has not been forgotten, and the call for his release is front and 
center. In a recent editorial of /El Nuevo Día/ 
<http://www.elnuevodia.com/editorial-traicionalademocracialaprisiondeoscarlopez-1783974.html>, 
the most widely read newspaper in Puerto Rico with a clear pro-American 
editorial position stated the following:


            At 71 years of age and having served 33 years in remote
            prisons, far away from his country, accused of seditious
            conspiracy, but never having been found guilty of shedding
            any blood, Oscar López Rivera is the symbol of a flagrant
            dishonor for his jailers and an affront to democracy that
            fails to respect human rights. In spite of the unanimous
            demands of the people and from every sector, and important
            voices in the international community, Oscar López is still
            held in a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The United States
            government persists in ignoring the call for his release.
            The government of the United States is morally impeded from
            intervening on behalf of any political prisoner, in any
            place in the world, while the president continues to mock
            the memory of Mandela, violate civil and political rights
            and Oscar's right to freedom.

 From his jail cell, Oscar López says, "I can't afford to think about 
freedom. The future is very unpredictable and I have no clear idea of 
when I will leave prison. I don't like illusory optimism."  As a former 
Puerto Rican political prisoner myself, I can fully understand the need 
to guard oneself from such thoughts and dreams. Here in Puerto Rico, 
there is a mass sense of optimism and faith that President Obama will do 
the right and just thing and release Oscar. This optimism is not 
idealistic or unfounded but very much rooted in a proud history of 
witnessing our political prisoners walking out of the gates of U.S. 
prisons. Here, there is faith in the power of a united Puerto Rican 
people demanding in one loud, clear and unwavering voice "Free Oscar 
López Now!"

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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