January
* Oscar marks his 71st birthday, and writes to his daughter Clarisa: “I feel very comfortable with my life and in my skin. I know I chose to serve the most just and noble cause that a Puerto Rican citizen could serve. My years in prison are only the occupational hazard that the struggle costs. But I was conscious of what awaited me, because the women and men who had chosen to serve the same cause and who had been imprisoned had allowed me to see what awaited me. From them I learned that I could survive, no matter how great the challenge.”1
* Congressman Alan Grayson writes to President Obama seeking Oscar’s release: “I am constantly approached regarding the imprisonment of Oscar López-Rivera. My constituents, a significant number of Puerto Ricans, and political leaders from all three major political parties in Puerto Rico are pleading for his release. Mr. López-Rivera’s 71st birthday is in four days, on Three Kings Day, or ‘Día de Reyes’ as it is known in Puerto Rico. I can think of no greater gift to him, his family, and the Puerto Rican community than his freedom and allowing him to return home on this important holiday.”2
* Puerto Rican Independence Party Senator María de Lourdes Santiago and Juan Dalmau visit Oscar. “An emotional visit, equally inspiring, which has had the effect of reaffirming our commitment to the struggle for independence, which is a struggle for love,” the senator expressed.3
* President of the Puerto Rican Senate, Eduardo Bhatia of the Popular Democratic Party, calls for Oscar’s release. “The people of Puerto Rico, regardless of party lines, thought and politics, are all in agreement that Oscar López must be released.”4
* Puerto Rico’s main daily newspaper, El Nuevo Día, continues its series Las manos en el cristal, letters from Oscar to his granddaughter Karina.5
