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Puerto Rican activist receives heros welcome in Chicago return
Source: Reuters
U.S. | Thu May 18, 2017 | 7:54pm EDT
Puerto Rican activist receives hero’s welcome in Chicago return
By Timothy Mclaughlin | CHICAGO
Hundreds of supporters gathered in Chicago on Thursday to celebrate a Puerto Rican activist who was freed from prison after serving over three decades behind bars for his involvement with a nationalist group that carried out more than 100 bombings in the 1970s and 1980s.
Oscar Lopez Rivera, 74, was convicted in 1981 of numerous charges, along with other members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), who sought to secure Puerto Rican independence from the United States.
Rivera's 70-year sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama in January, bringing renewed interest to his complicated legacy. Rivera has been hailed as a pillar of community organizing in Chicago and a leading voice of Puerto Rican nationalism and anti-colonialism, but denounced as a hardened criminal by critics.
His release comes at a time of tremendous turmoil for Puerto Rico - the U.S. commonwealth, home to 3.5 million people, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
"My mission, my mission in this world until I die, is to fight for the decolonization of Puerto Rico," Rivera, who was born in Puerto Rico but moved to Chicago a child, said on Thursday in a speech to his Chicago backers.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Puerto Rican activist receives hero’s welcome in Chicago return
By Timothy Mclaughlin | CHICAGO
Hundreds of supporters gathered in Chicago on Thursday to celebrate a Puerto Rican activist who was freed from prison after serving over three decades behind bars for his involvement with a nationalist group that carried out more than 100 bombings in the 1970s and 1980s.
Oscar Lopez Rivera, 74, was convicted in 1981 of numerous charges, along with other members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), who sought to secure Puerto Rican independence from the United States.
Rivera's 70-year sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama in January, bringing renewed interest to his complicated legacy. Rivera has been hailed as a pillar of community organizing in Chicago and a leading voice of Puerto Rican nationalism and anti-colonialism, but denounced as a hardened criminal by critics.
His release comes at a time of tremendous turmoil for Puerto Rico - the U.S. commonwealth, home to 3.5 million people, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
"My mission, my mission in this world until I die, is to fight for the decolonization of Puerto Rico," Rivera, who was born in Puerto Rico but moved to Chicago a child, said on Thursday in a speech to his Chicago backers.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-chicago-puertorico-idUSKCN18E3AO
