Oscar López Rivera Will Complete Sentence in Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican independence fighter was transferred to his native country to complete the sentence which ends next May 17

U.S. prison authorities transferred the political prisoner Oscar López Rivera to his native country this February 9, after spending 35 years and eight months in U.S. penitentiaries, the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día reported.

Since Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January, officials were obliged to remove López Rivera from the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, to a facility where prisoners are prepared to re-enter society.

The Puerto Rican independence fighter requested that he be placed in such a facility in his native country, to complete his sentence which ends this coming May 17.

The mayor of San Juan indicated that she has identified a community service job which the 74-year-old López Rivera can assume. His attorney, Jan Susler, emphasized that he remains a prisoner, and must abide by strict restrictions, which include not speaking to the press.

“He is overjoyed, super happy,” said his daughter Clarissa López Ramos, this past January 28, when she visited him following the commutation of his 70-year sentence.

In 1976, Rivera joined the underground struggle for the independence of his country as a member of the National Liberation Armed Forces (FALN). In 1981, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested him; he was charged and convicted of “seditious conspiracy.”