Oscar López Rivera: Between Torture and Resistance

Good read

A testament to the human spirit.Oscar Lopez Rivera spent 35 years in prison for a belief. He was incarcerated for the same "crime" as Nelson Mandela...seditious conspiracy. Here in the US, Mandela was ultimately treated as a freedom fighter, and received deep and widespread support against the South African apartheid regime. Oscar however, was condemned to 35 years in prison...the longest-serving political prisoner in the entire world, as of 2016.Finally and belatedly, in 2017, Pres. Obama commuted his sentence. BETWEEN TORTURE AND RESISTANCE is Oscar's intimate, detailed autobiography of those many years in US federal prison. It also details his service in Vietnam, his struggles and triumphs as a community organizer in Chicago (two decades before Barack Obama), his devotion to his family, and his commitment to the independence of Puerto Rico.Oscar Lopez Rivera paid for this commitment...with 35 years in prison. This is his personal testament. BETWEEN TORTURE AND RESISTANCE is a stunning book, and a vital work of living history.

TouchingImportant

Learned a lot about my island's history that I wasn't aware of. Highly recommend.

Great book! Oscar López Rivera is a truly honorable human being. He embodies the values and heroism of a true patriot. He is intelligent and insightful. Every PuertoRican should read this book and know this story. It is also an inside look at the abusive prison system in the United States with an in depth portrait of what it is like to be in solitary confinement. Oscar was in solitary for aprox. 12 years. I along with the majority of the PuertoRican population celebrate his freedom!!!!!

It's was with duality of great pleasure and sadness that I read this great book. It demostrate the cruel treatment that Empires have given to the colonized people thruogh the history of mankind.The cruelty of the U.S. Empire against it's colonized people is not different than any other Empire; including the England Empire that once oppresed their land.This man is viewed in his home country as equal to George Washington when he fought against the english empire.Oscar Lopez Rivera is a history of the struggle of the Puerto Rican people for their freedom.It's is too a history of reppresion of the colonized people of Puerto Rico by the dominand Empire of the last 115 years since the invasion of the Island in 1898.Between Torture and resistance is not only the story of Oscar Lopez Rivera but the story of the Puerto Rican people.This is the story of all the men and women that loved their country;Pedro Albizu Campos,Jose de Diejo,Ramon Emeterio Betances,Rius Rivera,Rafael Cancel Miranda,Lolita Lebron,Blanca Canales y Maria de las Mercedes Barbudo just to mention a few of the many patriots that dedicated their lifes to the freedom of the country orf Puerto Rico.These are Men and Women that gave their lifes for freedom just like George Washington did in 1776.

I appreciate the first-hand account of a freedom-fighter who sacrificed his own personal freedom for the fight to free the mother land - Puerto Rico - from the illegal colonization of her oppressors. It is easier to talk a good game about the struggle, to point fingers at those who fought while sitting along the sidelines and to critiqued and criticize come Monday-morning quarterbacking. The US Government has a lot of explaining to do...they should be held financially accountable for keeping this man as a political prisoner for as long as they did, all the while condemning other countries around the world for incarcerating political prisoners of their own....HYPOCRITES! It is time for reparations.

Very interesting perspective of Puerto Rican history through the lens of an activist that lived through the events that formed a nation and dismantled another. Oscar López Riveraas was influenced by events within the neighborhood he lived as well as world wide as political power and freedom seem to find themselves at odds.