Scholars: President Obama, Free Oscar Lopez Rivera

Oct. 13, 2016

The Campaign to Free Oscar López Rivera, National Boricua Human Rights Network

Dear President Obama,

We, the undersigned academics, professors, and researchers, call upon you to exercise your constitutional power of pardon and release Oscar López Rivera (87651-024, FCI Terre Haute).

As one of the Western hemisphere’s longest held political prisoners, Oscar López Rivera has served nearly 35 years in prison—12 in solitary confinement—for his commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico. With this letter, members of the academic community join the international clamor demanding an end to Oscar’s unjust, disproportionate, and politically motivated incarceration.

Oscar López Rivera was charged with seditious conspiracy,the same charge levied against one of your personal heroes, Nelson Mandela.

Oscar deserves commutation for many reasons. As he was not charged, let alone accused, of harming or killing anyone. His 70-year sentence is therefore disproportionate. At 73 years old, this decorated Vietnam veteran has spent almost half his life in prison. His co-defendants, released long ago, are productive members of society.

Support for his release is broad and growing in the United States, Puerto Rico, and throughout the world. It includes the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; five members of Congress; the governor of Puerto Rico; labor organizations, such as the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement; the New York City Council; churches and religious leaders, such as the United Church of Christ in the U.S. and the Catholic Bishops of Puerto Rico; the United Nations Decolonization Committee; six presidents of Latin American nations, and four of your fellow Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

We applaud your promise to commute more sentences and your expressed understanding that the constitutional power of pardon is the appropriate remedy for correcting the wrong of disproportionate sentences. We also support your recent commutations of the disproportionate sentences of people convicted of drug related offenses.

Given your recent use of your power of pardon and the increasingly fervent calls for Oscar’s release, we are at a loss to understand why you have not yet granted him clemency. As you are well aware, Presidents Truman, Carter and Clinton commuted the sentences of men and women in prison for their commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico. The integration of each of these individuals into Puerto Rico’s civil society has been seamless, thanks to vast community and familial support. This would be no different for Oscar.We urge you to grant him immediate release. His family and supporters await him with open arms.

Sincerely,

Name
Title and Department
Institutional Affiliation
Dr. Frances Aparicio   Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Director of the Latina and Latino Studies Program   Northwestern University
Dr. Bettina Aptheker   Distinguished Professor, Feminist Studies, UC Presidential Co-Chair, Feminist Critical Race & Ethnic Studies   University of California-Santa Cruz
Dr. Maren Aukerman   Assistant Professor in Graduate School of Education   Stanford University
Dr. Gianpaolo Baiocchi   Associate Professor of Individualized Studies and Sociology   New York University
Dr. Dan Berger   Assistant Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences   University of Washington-Bothell
Dr. Gustavo J. Bobonis   Associate Professor of Economics   University of Toronto
Dr. Yarimar Bonilla   Associate Professor in Department of Anthropology   Rutgers University
Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva   Professor of Sociology   Duke University
Dr. Douglass Cassel   Professor of Law   Notre Dame Law School
Dr. Samuel Cruz   Assistant Professor of Church and Society   Union Theological Seminary, City of New York
Dr. Antonia Darder   Leavey Presidential Chair of Ethics and Moral Leadership   Loyola Marymount University
Dr. Arlene Dávila   Professor of Anthropology and Social and Cultural Analysis   New York University
Dr. Angela Davis   Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department   University of California, Santa Cruz
Dr. Cedric de Leon   Associate Professor of Sociology   Providence College
Dr. Gina Dent   Associate Professor of Feminist Studies   University of California-Santa Cruz
Dr. Johanna Fernandez   Assistant Professor in the Department of Black and Latino Studies   City University of New York-Baruch College
Dr. Nilda Flores-Gonzalez   Associate Professor of Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies   University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Diane Fujino   Professor of Asian American Studies   University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. Julian Go   Professor of Sociology   Boston University
Dr. Van Gosse   Associate Professor and Chair of Department of History   Franklin & Marshall College
Dr. Deborah B. Gould   Associate Professor in Department of Sociology   University of California, Santa Cruz
Dr. Greg Grandin   Professor of History   New York University
Dr. James Green   Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Professor of Modern Latin American History and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and Director of the Brazil Initiative   Brown University
Dr. José Itzigsohn   Professor of Sociology   Brown University
Dr. Laura Ruth Johnson   Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment   Northern Illinois University
Dr. Gilbert Joseph   Farnam Professor of History and International Studies   Yale University
Dr. Jane A. Juffer   Distinguished Professor of History   Rutgers University
Dr. Mary Kay Vaughan   Professor of History, Emerita   University of Maryland-College Park
Dr. Rashid Khalidi   Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies   Columbia University
Dr. Peter Kuznick   Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute   American University
Dr. Deepak Lamba-Nieves   Postdoctoral fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs   Brown University
Dr. Marisol Lebron   Assistant Professor in American Studies   Dickinson College
Dr. Amanda Lewis   Associate Professor in Department of African American Studies and Department of Sociology   University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Linda Martin-Alcoff   Professor of Philosophy   Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center
Dr. Edwin Meléndez   Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning   Hunter College, City University of New York
Prof. Matt Meyer   International Peace Research Association   United Nations ECOSOC Representative
Dr. Nadine Naber   Associate Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies Program and Asian American Studies Program   University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Amalia Pallares   Professor of Political Science and Latin American and Latino Studies and Director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program   University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Imani Perry   Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies   Princeton University
Dr. Margaret Power   Illinois Institute of Technology   Department of Humanities
Dr. Barbara Ransby   Professor of History, African-American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies   University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz   Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Latina/o Studies Program   Northwestern University
Dr. Jonathan Rosa   Assistant Professor in Graduate School of Education   Stanford University
Dr. Francisco A. Scarano   Professor of History   University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor   Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies   Princeton University
Dr. Heather Ann Thompson   Professor of History and Afroamerican and African Studies   University of Michigan
Dr. Angela Valenzuela   Professor in Educational Policy and Planning Program in the Department of Educational Administration   University of Texas-Austin
Dr. Barbara Weinstein   Professor of History   New York University
Dr. Deborah M. Weissman   Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law, School of Law   University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Cornell West   Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practices   Union Theological Seminary, City of New York
Dr. John Womack, Jr.   Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Emeritus   Harvard University
Paula Chakravartty   Associate Professor, Department of Media, Culture and Communication and the Gallatin School   New York University
Diana Grizbord   Assistant Professor of Sociology & Latin American and Caribbean Studies   University of Georgia
Ann Peterson-Kemp   Associate Professor Emerita & Affiliate Associate Professor, Information Sciences   University of Illinois; University of Washington
Dr. Maura I. Toro-Morn   Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies Program   Illinois State University
Daniel Aldana Cohen   Assistant Professor of Sociology   University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Michael Staudenmaier   Senior Lecturer of History   Aurora University
Dr. Brian Connor   Lecturer of Sociology   University of Maryland, College Park
Johana Londoño   Assistant Professor of Latina/o studies   University at Albany
Jennifer Jones   Assistant Professor of Sociology   University of Notre Dame
Edward D. Vargas   PostDoctoral Trainee   University of Wisconsin-Madison
Melissa F. Weiner   Associate Professor of Sociology   College of the Holy Cross
Alvaro Jarrin   Assistant Professor of Anthropology   College of the Holy Cross
Meghan Tinsley   PhD candidate, Dept of Sociology   Boston University
Peter Carlo   Adjunct Professor, Sociology and Anthropology   University of Puerto Rico
Juan G. Ramos   Assistant Professor of Spanish   College of the Holy Cross
Dr. Peter Klein   Assistant Professor of Sociology and Environmental and Urban Studies   Bard College
Rodolfo Aguilar   visiting Assisant Professor of American & Latin American/Latino Studies   Kennesaw State University
Ann Morning   Associate Professor of Sociology   New York University
Cynthia Duarte   Director Center for Equality and Justice   California Lutheran University
Dr. Madeline Troche-Rodriguez   Assistant Professor of Sociology   City Colleges of Chicago
Andy Clarno   Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies   University of Illinois at chicago
Guadalupe Gomez   Associate Professor of Finance   Harvard Business School
Jill Hamberg   Visiting Professor of Urban Planning   Pratt Institute
Phyllis Sanfiorenzo   Artistic Director/Painter/Sculptor   Self employed