An imprisoned Puerto Rican terrorist who refused to renounce violence to get clemency in 1999, was among those whose sentence was commuted Tuesday by President Obama.
Oscar Lopez-Rivera helped establish the violent Puerto Rican independence group FALN (Fuerza Armadas de Liberacion Nacional, Spanish for Armed Forces of National Liberation).
The group is best known for bombing Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan in 1975, an attack that killed four, as well as a 1982 strike on NYPD headquarters.
López Rivera was arrested in May 1981 and convicted of seditious conspiracy, carrying firearms during the commission of violent crimes and transporting explosives with the intent to kill people.
He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
He will now be released on May 17.
“Oscar Lopez is a terrorist who participated in the killing of New Yorkers, and someone who has refused to renounce violence,” said Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI).
“Commuting his sentence proves that Obama and most liberals are out of touch with reality and willing to sacrifice all norms in the name of progressivism.”
In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered Lopez-Rivera clemency, but he refused because it would have required him to renounce terrorism.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has been campaigning for years for Lopez Rivera, gushed over the news of his pardon.
“I’m so very excited and happy for Oscar. It’s been a long road and I’ve been very invested in this case personally and emotionally, so it’s overwhelming,” she said. “This was an unjust sentencing and it’s been 35 years of having been in jail for his political convictions.”
She added that the move would cement Obama’s legacy among Puerto Ricans.
“When people think of what did he do for Puerto Rico, it’s going to be that he freed Oscar,” she said.