During the time that we had the opportunity to have a conversation with Oscar, we spoke about many topics and situations related to his experiences in life and in the struggle. We also spoke about some of his reflections of the present time. Here is my transcription of the notes taken during our conversation, which try to be as faithful as possible to his words. About each one of Oscar’s reflections it would be worthwhile for us to have a collective reflection as a people.

Some notes taken during Wilma Reverón Collazo and Alejandro Torres Rivera’s visit to Oscar López in the Terre Haute, Indiana prison on May 3, 2014

1. We need solidarity as Puerto Rican in our daily life.  It is about the necessity to instill in our youth a sense of Puerto Rican citizenship and citizen responsibility as Puerto Ricans.  It is not a sense of citizenship like American citizenship, rather a sense of responsibility toward us.

2. When development depends, in any country, on resources coming from the outside, the benefits are always going to the outside. The United States can intervene in Puerto Rico all they want and there will never be real development.

3. The United States is the only country in the world where corporations have citizenship.

4. The treaties of free trade have only resulted, as is the case of Mexico, in the impoverishment of other countries, not of the United States.

5. The corporate control of the universities is measured by who is assigned to the Board of Syndicates and to who the results of the investigations of students and professors goes.  Those benefits do not go to them but to the corporations that control the Board of Syndicates.

6. If you examine the reality of the indigenous reservations in the United States and what you see there from the point of view of the reality of its people, it makes one think of where the United States would be leading Puerto Rico.  There is an important character in the history of that country, a character that was involved in the principle indigenous wars at the end of the 19 century and arrived in Puerto Rico in 1898 with the same words that he treated the indigenous people that fought against the government of the United States.  We are talking about Nelson Miles. The United States could be leading Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans to an indigenous reservation condition.

7. We do not appreciate the grandeur of the Boricua’s heart.  In this country (the United States) there is a deficit of compassion. The heart of the Boricua is different, it has much compassion toward others and that is important to maintain.

8. Many times we should state things outside the box of where we find ourselves.

9. For me the struggle is struggle.  I do not care where the person is if that person is in the struggle.

10. We have to ingrain the ideas into the people to give them hope.

11. While we are a colonial we cannot assure ourselves to develop an internal market. In Puerto Rico it is necessary to unite ourselves in a great united front against decolonization.

12. We should understand that there have already been experiences that have failed. Then, we should not insist in repeating the same things that have already been proven not to work.  We should not repeat what we already practiced and did not work, we have to find new things, new ways of doing things.

13. One of the biggest problems in Puerto Rico is “kiosquismo”.  The people respect the independence fighters, but what they do not respect is the division among them.

14. With colonialism there are escape valves.  We have to look for a project that last and allows for changes in the political structure where the people are pushing themselves. There is no feeling of the effects of colonialism.

15. It has to be understood that any administration of a colony can only administer it. In Puerto Rico Wall Street and Washington are the ones that have the real power.

16. What needs to be looked for is where the opportunities are to start breaking down barriers so that the people can see what the things that affect us are.

17. In Puerto Rico the power of citizenship is seen as Americans and not as Puerto Ricans.

18. We should find a way to deliver our message educating the people. For example, in the controversy over privatization there is a magnificent opportunity to confront the powers of Washington and Wall Street.

19. I have ten more years left to be jail.  I take lots of care of my health and my nutrition. I will come out even if I am already, over eighty when I do….I will return.

20. Out of all that we had to face in the process after we were captured, the thing that hurt me the most was to heard a person that had been with us declare against us.  There is nothing that hurts more than betrayal.

21. I remember how important it was for me to be able to talk with Oscar Collazo. I was not able to be with any of them when they came out because I was already clandestine. There was a conversation that we were able to have for over an hour when I was already in prison and it was a call from Don Juan Antonio Corretjer’s house.  His advice gave me the necessary strength. It was an inspiring example. Of all the independence leadership at the time, he is with whom I felt most comfortable.  He was very close to those of us who were in the diaspora.

22. The Mexican revolutionary organizations, in Mexico as well as in the United States, where also very supportive with us. We always have to be grateful to them for what they did.

23. We, upon being captured decided that politically we were going to make our personal sacrifice as a way to inspire the resistance of our people.

Translated by Carmen I. Borges / MINH Communications