Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre! Carlos Alberto Torres Speaks Free Oscar Lopez Rivera! Carlos Alberto Torres (who was sentenced to 78 years in prison) was released after serving 28+ years. Carlos was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He moved to Chicago during his childhood. He was a student at the University of Illinois at Carbondale and UIC. Carlos was one of the founders of the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School and participated in the Committee to Free the Five Puerto Rican Nationalists (Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda and others imprisoned from the 1950s until their release by Jimmy Carter). In 1980 Carlos was arrested on charges of seditious conspiracy. He was unfairly convicted and sentenced to 78 years in prison for his political ideas, not for any violent actions. He is the stepson of ex-political prisoner Alejandrina Torres. Most of his compatriots were released in an earlier clemency by Bill Clinton. Hes on a second speaking tour since his own release, dedicated to winning freedom for Oscar Lopez Rivera in particular, and all Puerto Rican political prisoners in general. Other Puerto Rican independentistas held in US prisons include the brothers Avelino and Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, accused of involvement in the Macheteros, a clandestine Puerto Rican independence group.
Oscar López Rivera was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. At 12, he moved to Chicago. Oscar was a founder of the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School and Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center. As a decorated Vietnam vet, he committed himself to the liberation of his people and independence of his homeland. He was a community organizer for ASPIRA and with the First Congregational Church. He participated in the Comm. to Free the Five Puerto Rican Nationalists. He was captured on May 29, 1981 and accused of involvement with the clandestine FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation). He has a daughter, Clarissa, and a granddaughter, Karina, who visit him regularly in prison. He is at the Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. May 29 marked 30 years in prison, and he was denied parole in contradiction to US parole rules. Please write to him: #87651-024 FCI Terre Haute P.O. Box 33 Terre Haute, IN 47808. Hes the longest held Puerto Rican political prisoner ever and has surpassed all political prisoners in Latin America and has even surpassed Nelson Mandelas time in prison (27 years). "Agitation, organization, resistance, struggle and love are the ingredients that will guarantee us VICTORY!" -Oscar Lopez Rivera, Puerto Rican Independentista political prisoner Puerto Rico is the longest-held colony in the Western Hemisphere, colonized directly by Columbus for Spain, and captured as war booty by the US in 1898, in violation of Spains treaty with Puerto Rico. It is a country engaged in hot struggle against the abusive colonial conditions and status that leave its people in poverty, its environment facing destruction, its university the target of neo-liberal privatization. In that context, the struggle to free imprisoned independentistas is more urgent than ever. Come learn what you can do! Thursday, October 13, 7-9:00 PM Southern California Library for Social Studies 6120 S. Vermont Ave., L.A. (btwn Slauson & Gage) Sponsored by Puerto Rican Alliance ([email protected] 310-460-8586) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
