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Vol. 80/No. 36 September 26, 2016
Momentum grows for Oct. 9 ‘Free Oscar López’ protest
BY SETH GALINSKY
Leaders of several major religious denominations in Puerto Rico have
called on all who support the fight to win freedom for imprisoned
independence fighter Oscar López Rivera to join an Oct. 9 rally and
concert in Washington, D.C.
Catholic Archbishop of San Juan Roberto González Nieves, Methodist
Bishop Juan Vera, Lutheran Bishop Felipe Lozada Montañez and Heriberto
Martínez, secretary of the Biblical Societies of Puerto Rico, joined
Clarisa López, Oscar’s daughter, and leaders of the Coalition to Free
Oscar López at a press conference Sept. 8 in San Juan.
“Oscar López Rivera has served a very long and disproportionate
sentence,” González said. “That’s why as well as for humanitarian
reasons, the bishops of Puerto Rico, members of other churches,
politicians of all the ideologies and the majority of the
representatives of civil society have asked for his release.”
“The support of the Puerto Rican people is practically unanimous,” he
added.
López was arrested in 1981, accused by the U.S. government of being a
leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation of Puerto Rico (FALN).
Lacking evidence linking him to any violent acts, prosecutors framed him
for “seditious conspiracy.”
His continued support for independence, along with resistance to years
in solitary confinement, solidarity with other prisoners and his
dignity, has made López a symbol of the fight against Puerto Rico’s
colonial subjugation by Washington.
Thirty-eight city councils in Puerto Rico have called for his release,
as has every union federation on the island.
In the United States the AFL-CIO labor federation, Service Employees
International Union executive board, Communications Workers of America,
and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unions
have also joined the call to free López.
Among the many international groups and individuals backing the fight
are the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, the American
Association of Jurists, the Senate of Mexico, the Cuban Institute for
Friendship with the Peoples and Rev. Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
Ingrid Vila Biaggi, a leader of the coalition in Puerto Rico, said that
among the participants in the Oct. 9 meeting and concert will be
musicians Danny Rivera, Roy Brown and René (Residente) Pérez and theater
group Jóvenes del 98 (The youth of ’98).
Board to protect bondholders
The fight to free López is reinforced by opposition to the financial
control board, just imposed on the island by Washington and given vast
powers over Puerto Rico’s budget and fiscal policy for the next four
years. This includes the right to lower the minimum wage there for those
under 25 years old to $4.25 an hour.
The board is part of legislation signed by President Barack Obama to
ensure payment of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt to bondholders and
hedge funds. The colonial regime of Gov. Alejandro García says it cannot
pay the debt without major restructuring. It did not make the July 1
payment of nearly $1 billion.
Obama announced the appointment of the board Aug. 31, four chosen by the
Republican Party and three by Democrats. The majority are Puerto Rican,
including Carlos García, CEO of BayBoston Managers and former president
of Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank. He is considered the
architect of Law 7, which gave the government power to suspend public
workers’ union contracts and override labor laws.
Other board members include insurance executives, past bank presidents
and bankruptcy lawyers and judges, all of whom can be counted on to
minimize any “haircuts” on payments to capitalist bondholders.
Hundreds of protesters blocked entrances to the Puerto Rican Chamber of
Commerce’s Aug. 31 conference in San Juanto orient business people on
how the board would function.
In addition to the debt to bondholders, the government owes $45 billion
to workers’ pension funds, which are rapidly running out of money. Many
of its “assets” are loans to workers — including about $1 billion in
mortgages — who are less and less able to pay.
Over the last several years successive governments in Puerto Rico have
laid off thousands of public workers, increased sales taxes, closed
schools and raised the retirement age to push the debt obligations onto
the backs of working people.
For more information on Oscar López and the Oct. 9 event in Washington,
visit: freeoscarlopeznow.com or boricuahumanrights.org.
Related articles:
Month of action begins in Cuba against US embargo
Includes solidarity with Puerto Rico, Oscar López
Che: ‘Society must be converted into a gigantic school’
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