Speaking on behalf of all the bishops of Puerto Rico, Archbishop
Roberto González Nieves of San Juan recently gave thanks to God that
former President Barack Obama commuted the sentence of Oscar López
Rivera on January 17.López Rivera made bombs for the FALN, a Marxist group that sought independence for the island. In 1981, he was sentenced to 55 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, armed robbery, vehicle theft, and other charges.
In 1988, he was sentenced to an additional 15 years after attempting to escape from prison.
“We would like to thank Pope Francis for his interventions in favor of the release of Óscar López Rivera,” the archbishop said.
“In the noble cause of the liberation of Oscar López Rivera, politicians of all the parties and ideologies, religious of different confessions, Puerto Ricans of here and the diaspora were united.”