NY action demands freedom for Oscar López

Militant/Seth Galinsky

NEW YORK — This May will mark Oscar López’s 35th year in U.S. prisons on frame-up charges of “seditious conspiracy” for his activities in support of independence for Puerto Rico. The monthly protest here April 24 by 34 Women for Oscar was bigger than usual, including the participation of his daughter Clarisa López, center. Scores of passersby at Union Square took flyers for a June 20 protest at the United Nations that will be part of an international day of action demanding his freedom.

After chanting for 34 minutes — one for each year of his captivity — participants stayed for a special presentation. Lourdes García, far right, one of the organizers of 34 Women, introduced Socialist Workers Party leader Mary-Alice Waters, left. Last year Waters won a raffle for a sculpture of López carved out of wood by artist Jesús Mangual, standing in back.

“By passing on this beautiful bust to Oscar’s daughter, it can continue to be part of the fight for his freedom,” Waters said.

She noted that Fernando González, one of five Cuban revolutionaries who spent 16 years in prison in the U.S. for their defense of the Cuban Revolution, had shared a cell with López for several years. “If there’s anything I would call my best years in prison,” González told Waters in an interview after his release, “it would be those years with Oscar.” That interview is published in The Cuban Five Talk About Their Lives Within the US Working Class.

“A thousand thanks.” Clarisa López said, in accepting the sculpture. “Fernando is one of the kindest, most intelligent people I know. We have a date pending to drink coffee in Havana when Oscar is free.”

— SARA LOBMAN