Oscar López Rivera Freed After 36 Years: Political Prisoner Is Considered A Terrorist & Hero

After decades of house arrest, Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera was released. His case made him a martyr for his followers and at the same time a terrorist for others; winning the hatred of those who lost loved ones in a series of bomb attacks that he directed.

In the 1970s and 1980s, López was considered a leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, the Puerto Rican group that claimed responsibility for a hundred bomb attacks on shops, government buildings, banks and restaurants in cities in the United States.

Attacks in New York, Chicago, Washington, as well as Puerto Rico, left six dead and dozens injured. The most notorious attack was the one that killed four people and injured 60 at Fraunces Tavern, a historic restaurant in the financial district of New York.

According to AP reports, the 74-year-old man was dressed in a black shirt and jeans and offered a wide smile. He greeted supporters from his daughter's house in San Juan, before going in a white jeep, to a government office to deliver the electronic bracelet that monitored his movements during his house arrest.

His release brought with him much controversy. Goya Foods, best-known Hispanic food company, withdraws its support from the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, given the Parade's recent decision to honor López Rivera.

El Diario NY reported that Goya withdrew its sponsorship via a letter because of "... an aggressive media and social media campaign against our Company and its excellent products, citing its reason that we sponsored a terrorist and FALN member by the name of Oscar López."

Oscar López Rivera bio reads that he was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, on January 6, 1943. His family moved to the United States when he was nine years old. At the age of 14, he moved to Chicago to live with a sister. In the late 1970s he began to advocate for Puerto Rican independence.