WHEREAS:

            The American Federation of State County, and Municipal Employees represents the interests of 1.4 million workers in the United States and Puerto Rico; and

WHEREAS:

            AFSCME is celebrating 75 years of commitment to civil and human rights and justice; and

WHEREAS:

            Oscar López Rivera is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, who returned to the Puerto Rican community of Chicago to become a successful community organizer and help improve conditions in education, housing, and employment; and

WHEREAS:

            In May 1981, he was arrested, along with 14 other men and women, and was convicted of seditious conspiracy and related offenses, yet neither he, nor any of his co-defendants, was convicted of harming or killing anyone; and

WHEREAS:

            In 1999, as a result of an international campaign for their release, President Clinton commuted the sentences of most of these men and women. He offered to commute Oscar’s sentence after he served another 10 years in prison. In solidarity with those not included in the commutation, Oscar declined; and

WHEREAS:

            All those released are living productive, law-abiding lives. Oscar is the only one of his co-defendants still behind bars; and

WHEREAS:

            At 69 years old, he is the longest held political prisoner in the history of Puerto Rico. He has served more time than the South African leader Nelson Mandela; and

WHEREAS:

            There have been many personalities and international organizations which have applied for his release over the past 31 years. Support includes several members of the U.S. House of Representatives; civic and religious leaders throughout the U.S.; elected officials from California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; international figures from Australia, Haiti and Mexico among others; as well as many Puerto Rican and Latino communities throughout the United States; and

WHEREAS:

            In Puerto Rico, four ex-governors, Rafael Hernández Colón, Sila María Calderón, Anibal Acevedo Vilá and Pedro Roselló, have requested in writing the freedom of Oscar López Rivera.  So has Puerto Rico’s current Resident Commissioner in the U.S. Congress, Pedro Pierluissi; and

WHEREAS:

            The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization has adopted resolutions annually, as recently as 2011, calling on the President of the United States to release Oscar López Rivera.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That the AFSCME 40th International Convention calls on the President of the United States to exercise his Constitutional power of pardon and to grant immediate and unconditional release of Oscar López Rivera; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That the AFSCME International Executive Board will send this resolution to the President of the United States, to convey its sentiments directly to the person in whom those constitutional powers rest.