López is serving a 70-year sentence at the maximum security federal prison at Terre Haute, Indiana. He has been denied medical treatment for bilateral hernias, diagnosed seven months ago by a prison surgeon, The doctor recommended surgery.

“We are asking that you send letters to the [U.S.] Bureau of Prisons demanding that he get the medical attention he needs,” Margarita Mergal, a member of the Committee for Human Rights of Puerto Rico, told the Militant. “He is in bad health, and in a lot of pain.”

The prison authorities have said that López has to wait for his turn to get medical attention. “But he has been waiting for his turn since March,” Mergal said. “It’s obvious that this is nothing more nor less than another way of punishing him.”

López’s deteriorating condition and increased levels of pain prevent him from exercising, something he was still able to do three months ago.

The independence fighter has been singled out for particularly brutal treatment during the two decades of his imprisonment. He spent 12 years in solitary confinement before an international campaign won his 1998 transfer to Terre Haute from the federal prison in Marion, Illinois, and release into the general prison population.

During that time he was subjected to sleep deprivation, intrusive body searches, and nearly complete lack of outdoor recreation.

He was jailed in 1981 and sentenced to 55 years on charges of “seditious conspiracy.” U.S. officials claimed that he was a leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, a pro-independence organization accused by Washington of carrying out a series of bombings of government, business, and military sites.

Seven years later, López was framed for “conspiracy to escape” and sentenced to an additional 15 years. The Puerto Rican fighter is not eligible for release until 2027.

López’s real crime in the eyes of the U.S. government was his involvement in the struggle against Washington’s colonial domination of his country. Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States for more than a century.

López is one of five Puerto Rican patriots who remain locked up in U.S. prisons for their activities in support of independence. The others are Juan Segarra Palmer, Haydée Beltrán, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Antonio Camacho Negrón.

In 1999 a new growth in opposition to the impact of Washington’s colonial rule—seen in the increasing support for the campaign in defense of the political prisoners, as well as in the explosion of the fight to get the U.S. Navy off the Puerto Rican island of Vieques—led to the decision by the administration of President William Clinton to release 11 of the 17 political prisoners being held at that time.

Six were not included in Clinton’s commutation. Juan Segarra and Oscar López were told they needed to serve additional time before being considered for a pardon. Segarra, who has already served more than 20 years in prison, will be released in January 2004.

The other four, Carlos Alberto Torres, Antonio Camacho, José Solís, and Haydée Beltrán were not included in the amnesty offer. Solís was released in November 2002.

The web site for the New York-based ProLibertad Freedom Campaign says that according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Camacho is scheduled to be released in August 2004.

After being released in 2002, Camacho was rearrested in April 2003 for refusing to accept conditions preventing him from continuing to speak out against colonial rule.

Carlos Alberto Torres is demanding that he be allowed to receive family visits. Torres’ mother, Alejandrina Torres, who was one of 11 prisoners released under Clinton’s order, having served 16 years in prison, has been repeatedly denied her request to visit her stepson at the federal prison in Oxford, Wisconsin.

The Committee for Human Rights of Puerto Rico, the National Boricua Human Rights Network, and ProLibertad are urging supporters of democratic rights to send letters of protest on behalf of Oscar López Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres. Letters should be sent to Harley G. Lappin, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20534; fax (202) 514-6878.  
 
 
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