People of conscience throughout the world were outraged by news that the U.S. Parole Commission refused to parole Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera after close to 30 years in prison for his support of Puerto Rican independence. Thousands of people, including members of U.S. Congress, religious leaders, artists, scholars, and community members support his immediate release.

The Parole Commission’s inhumane decision, issued on February 18, ignored both the specifics of Oscar’s case and the broad-based international humanitarian support for his immediate release. The Commission, basing its unjust decision on falsehoods and inaccuracies, ruled that Oscar must remain in prison another 15 years or until the duration of his sentence, whichever comes first.

Though this represents a significant setback, the National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN) has no doubt the campaign for Oscar’s freedom will be victorious. The Puerto Rican people and their allies have succeeded in winning the release of three generations of political prisoners, an unparalleled accomplishment. This campaign will be no different.

After consulting with Oscar and the campaign for his release, his attorney will ask the Parole Commission to reconsider its wrongheaded ruling. Activists and leaders from the U.S., Puerto Rico and abroad have started to aggressively plan and launch the next phase of the campaign.

There are many ways to contribute to this campaign:

You can sign the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign’s NEW online parole petition based on the NBHRN letter:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/olrnewparole/

AND SIGN/FAX/MAIL THE NBHRN LETTER (Opens as a PDF).