Barack Obama commuted the sentence of notorious turncoat Bradley/Chelsea Manning on Tuesday, and that wasn’t even the most controversial pardon he made that day.
He also pardoned Oscar López Rivera, a terrorist.
As CNN points out, López Rivera was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for “seditious conspiracy” in 1981. Wikipedia notes that in 1988, “he was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for conspiring to escape from the Leavenworth federal prison.”
He was a leader in “Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional” (Armed Forces of National Liberation), which was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks in the United States.
In 1954, the group shot members of the US House of Representatives from the House Gallery.
Bill Clinton had previously offered Rivera a pardon – which he refused because he would have been required to renounce violence. Luckily for Rivera, Obama didn’t have such a contingency.
Holding Puerto Rican flags and “Free Oscar Lopez Rivera” signs, dozens of community members and former revolutionaries on Tuesday filled a small Humboldt Park community theater.
The impromptu celebration on Chicago’s West Side came just hours after President Barack Obama commuted Lopez’s prison sentence for his role in an organization that in the 1970s and early ’80s plotted bombings, prison escapes and armed robberies in an effort to secure independence for Puerto Rico, a territory of the U.S.
“Obama finally listened and let Oscar out of prison,” sang the crowd, which alternated between the joyous chant and “Que bonita bandera,” Spanish for “what a beautiful flag.”
In addition to community members and political organizers, two of Lopez’s siblings turned out to celebrate, as did former FALN members who had spent time in prison. Lopez’s brother, Jose E. Lopez, said the commutation has “historical significance.”
H/T: Chicago Tribune
Among those cheering on the decision? Another terrorist, of course.
Oscar Lopez freed!
Chelsea Manning out!!!
Great news! Joy an Justice!
Free Leonard!
Pardon Ethel!
Keep rolling!— Bill Ayers (@WilliamAyers) January 17, 2017
And Democrat NYC mayor Bill de Blasio…
Thank you @POTUS for freeing #OscarLopezRivera. Congratulations to all who fought for this day, including Speaker @MMViverito.
— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) January 18, 2017
This is DESPITE the fact that Rivera killed New Yorkers.
@NYCMayor @POTUS @MMViverito are supporters of domestic terrorism. Who is next, Mark David Chapman? Khalid Sheikh Muhammad? pic.twitter.com/F4OwcMnmrl
— Young Ideas (@DickYoungsGhost) January 18, 2017
Don’t let the American public forget that it’s not just terrorists in Guantanamo Bay that Obama has set free.
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