Chicago Women Rally for Oscar’s Release by Juanita Garcia, NBHRN For the past five months, women from different backgrounds have come together the last Saturday of each month for 34 minutes to bring Chicagoans’ attention to the campaign to free Oscar López Rivera. The women rally one minute for every year Oscar has been incarcerated. On Saturday, 
December 26th, 34 Women for Oscar gathered on the corner of Division and Ashland. With much fervor, the women waved flags emblazoned with Oscar’s image as they chanted for his freedom. Groups of 34 Women have also organized themselves in Puerto Rico, New York, and Boston. Alyssa Villegas is a Chicago native and was a member of the Network before moving to New York City to study film at Brooklyn College. Alyssa arrived a few minutes late, but as she walked down Division Street and without seeing the group of women, she could hear the women loud and clear a block away which heightened her level of enthusiasm. 
Alyssa is excited to see women in Chicago coming together for Oscar’s freedom and believes it is “important for women to be seen at the forefront of the campaign as women have always played a major role throughout the years in the campaign to free Oscar.” The next rally will take place on January 30th, 2016 at 3pm on the corner of Division and Ashland. Let’s make this the last year we organize these rallies.
