The Militant - June 17, 2013 -- Chicago meeting concludes ‘32 days for 32 years’ events

Vol. 77/No. 23 June 17, 2013

Chicago meeting concludes
‘32 days for 32 years’ events

BY LAURA ANDERSON
CHICAGO — More than 100 people attended a meeting here May 29 to demand freedom for Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López Rivera and celebrate completion of a protest called “32 Days for 32 Years.” During the monthlong protest, 32 volunteers took 24-hour stints in a mock prison cell set up in the front window of Batey Urbano, a Puerto Rican youth center in Humboldt Park, to symbolize the conditions under which López has been held during much of his incarceration.

“Similar events took place today in New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Philadelphia, and several cities in Puerto Rico, including Caguas, Ponce, San Juan, Arecibo, Aibonito, and Mayagüez,” Alejandro Molina, co-director of the Boricua Human Rights Network, told the crowd.

“I went to prison for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating Oscar,” José López, Oscar’s brother, told the meeting. “Fifty-two people went to jail for refusing to testify.”

“The FBI was looking for him for seven years. Our family was terrorized and my mother’s house was in a state of siege,” López said. “But people had the courage to stand up and fight back.”

López noted that a meeting to support the fight was also taking place in Havana.

“I’m proud to say that today Ricardo Alarcón gave a speech where he said in Cuba, they have a slogan: ‘Libertad por los nuestros [Free our people] — Oscar Lopez and the Cuban Five.’”