On Sunday January 19, after a National Boricua Human Rights meeting to securing the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera, people gathered from Chicago, Florida, Ohio, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Puerto Rico and Detroit to commemorate the life of Oscar Collazo Lopez. Jan 20, 2014 marked the 100th anniversary the birthday of Oscar Collazo, ex-political prisoner who spent 29 years in prison. At the commemoration at El Maestro Cultural Center, named after the Puerto Rican patriot Don Pedro Albizu Campos. Speakers included El Maestro’s Executive Director Fernando ‘Ponce’ Laspina, president of La Fundacion Andrés Figueroa Cordero, Bomexi Iztaccihuat, ex-political prisoner Ricardo Jiménez and the keynote speaker Dr. José E. López Rivera, grand jury resistor and brother of Oscar López Rivera.
José spoke about his personal encounters with Oscar Collazo’s and the influence he had on his life and dedication to the struggle for the betterment of the Puerto Rican people. He brought attention to the parallels between the Oscar López Rivera and Oscar Collazo López, and about the history of persecution and about Puerto Rican ability to resist. All of the speakers invoked the past as something to learn from and inspire us in our continued struggle to release the Oscar López Rivera, who has served 32 years imprisoned by the US.
As part of this historic event, the crowd heard passionate poet Zelideth Diaz Hatch dedicated several heartfelt poems to Oscar López Rivera. Iris Colon Dipini, with Grupo Maestro, passionately sang a decima written by Oscar Collazo López, which he dedicated to the Puerto Rican women in the International Year of Women.
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| Zelideth Diaz Hatch por la Libertad de Oscar Lopez Rivera video por Jose Rivera 1:19:14 |
