We, the undersigned citizens and civil society leaders of the nation of Barbados hereby declare our un-wavering solidarity with and support for OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA, the heroic Puerto Rican independence activist who was unjustly convicted of the crime of "Seditious Conspiracy" in the Court system of the United States of America (USA) in 1981, and who has now been incarcerated as a de facto political prisoner in the Federal prison system of the USA for the past 33 years.

We are cognizant of the fact that OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA’s native land of Puerto Rico has been subjected to an unnatural and oppressive 520 year long state of colonial domination that commenced in 1493 with its unlawful seizure by the European nation of Spain, and that was transposed in 1898 into an hegemonic USA imposed system of imperial domination that has continued up to the present day.

We hold firmly to the view that OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA — like such other outstanding patriots of our Americas region as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Henri Christophe, Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Antonio Maceo, Marcus Garvey, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Eric Williams, CLR James and Errol Barrow, among many others — possessed a lawful and sacred right to demand, agitate and, if necessary, fight for the independence and sovereignty of his native land.

We consider that OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA holds a place of great esteem and honour in the shining Puerto Rican tradition of anti-colonial struggle that dates back hundreds of years, and that includes such heroes as Luis Munoz Rivera, Lola Rodriguez de Tio, Pedro Albizu Campos, and Juan Antonio Corretjer among many others, and we recognize and acclaim the sterling effort that OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA made during the decade of the 1970's to defend and champion the cause of Puerto Rican immigrants in the USA in general and in the city of Chicago in particular.

We deplore the fact that when OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA was arrested and put on trial in the USA, his lawful and reasonable submission that the Courts of the USA had no jurisdiction to try him , and that he should be remanded to an impartial international tribunal to have his status judged, was rejected by the judicial and governmental authorities of the USA, and we have further noted that as a result of his principled position on the illegitimacy of the trial that he was being subjected to OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA presented no defence at his trial and lodged no appeal against his conviction.

We are also cognizant that in spite of OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA never having been charged with, much less convicted of, having caused physical harm to any human being, the USA judicial system ultimately sentenced him to a manifestly unjust total of 70 years in prison, and we consider that OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA has been punished, and continues to be punished— not because he committed a crime— but because of his political beliefs and affiliations.

IN LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING, we now CALL upon the people of the USA to denounce and repudiate the continued incarceration of the now 71 year old OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA by their Government, and we further CALL upon President Barack Obama to exercise the constitutional power of pardon that he possesses to commute OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA’s punitive sentence and to grant his immediate release.

We further commit ourselves to continue to agitate and struggle in this sacred cause until the freedom of OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA becomes a reality.

Supporting organisations in Barbados

Clement Payne Movement
Clemet Payne Labour Union
People Empowerment Party
Israel Lovell Foundation
Friends of Venezuela Solidarity Committee (Barbados)
Cuban Barbadian Friendship Association
Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration
Africaan Reparation Inc
United Nuwaubians Nation (Barbados)
Pan African Coalition of Organisation (Barbados)