Vol. 77/No. 44      December 9, 2013

The fight to free López has been gaining broader support, especially in Puerto Rico, including from labor unions, churches, and virtually every political party on the island, including those opposed to independence.

Catholic Archbishop Roberto González Nieves; Methodist Bishop Rafael Moreno Rivas; Ponce Mayor María Meléndez, a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party; Democratic Party Congressman Luis Gutiérrez from Chicago; and López’s daughter Clarissa López Ramos were among the speakers. A message of support was read from Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla.

The San Juan march was initiated by the groups 32 for Oscar and the Puerto Rico Human Rights Committee.

“Oscar has won the respect of the people of Puerto Rico, including among those who don’t necessarily share his ideology,” Rita Elena Zengotita, one of the march organizers, said by phone Nov. 25.

“Our people showed their patriotism,” Rafael Cancel Miranda, said in a phone interview the same day. “The demonstration showed that our people are still alive.” Cancel Miranda is a veteran fighter for Puerto Rican independence who himself was a political prisoner in the U.S. for 25 ½ years.

“We need unity to win Oscar’s release,” Cancel Miranda said, referring to the range of political views among demonstrators, from independentistas to those who think Puerto Rico should be the 51st U.S. state. “But I marched for a man who has fought for freedom. I don’t believe in annexation to the U.S. That would be the end of the existence of our people.”

Demonstrations to demand the release of López also took place in Washington, D.C., and New York the same day. In Chicago volunteers collected signatures on a petition demanding his freedom.

Gabriela Ramírez, a student at American University in Washington, D.C., joined the New York demonstration of 150 people who marched from the Lower East Side to Brooklyn. “I couldn’t go to the march in Puerto Rico, so I came here,” she said. “We have to stand up for Oscar, but also for justice and for our own rights.”

The New York action was organized by the Community Coalition for the Freedom of Oscar López Rivera.

The marches take place in the midst of the deepening capitalist economic crisis in Puerto Rico. The island’s official unemployment rate reached 14.7 percent in October, the fourth straight monthly increase. The Puerto Rican government is some $87 billion in debt, most of it owed to bondholders in the U.S. For the past six years, interest has been paid by issuing more debt.

A few days before the march, the White House announced it was sending an advisory team to “offer strategic advice to assist Puerto Rico in promoting its economic development.”

“But the problem is that they’re the ones who are guilty. U.S. colonialism has destroyed our agriculture and our economy,” Cancel Miranda said. “We don’t control our own economy.”
 
 
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