美国国家公共电台 NPR Pardon Sought For Prisoner Who Fought For Puerto Rican Independence

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: 

President Obama has granted clemency¹ to more than a thousand prisoners. Now in his final days in office, some activists², celebrities³ and politicians are asking him for one more pardon. Oscar Lopez Rivera has been in federal prison since 1981. He was convicted of trying to overthrow⁴ the U.S. government in a bid for independence for Puerto Rico. Maria Hinojosa, host of the public radio program Latino USA, has more.

MARIA HINOJOSA, BYLINE⁵: In the mid-1970s, a mysterious series of protest bombings shook cities across the country.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Nine buildings in Washington, New York and Chicago were bombed early today within a 45-minute span in a carefully coordinated⁶ attack.

HINOJOSA: Responsibility was claimed by a group called Las Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional, or the FALN.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: By the FALN, the Puerto Rican terrorist group which claims to be pushing for the island's independence from the United States.

HINOJOSA: Between 1974 and 1983, the FALN set off over 70 such bombs. Most of the bombs only damaged property, but there were dozens of injuries and five deaths. Most of the group's members have served long prison sentences and have since been released, except for one.

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BERNIE SANDERS: Oscar Lopez Rivera has been in jail 34 years.

HINOJOSA: Public figures, from Bernie Sanders to "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, are calling for his release.

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SANDERS: Free Oscar Lopez Rivera.

HINOJOSA: His supporters say he's a political prisoner serving an unjust sentence. His opponents say he's an unrepentant terrorist. In the 1960s, Oscar Lopez Rivera was a young Puerto Rican living in Chicago and working as a community organizer. He fought in Vietnam where he earned a Bronze Star, but he became disillusioned⁷ by the war and what he saw as U.S. imperialism⁸.

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OSCAR LOPEZ RIVERA: When I came back, there were young people that were saying, we want to be heard. We want our community to have a voice.

HINOJOSA: That's Oscar Lopez Rivera himself. He spoke⁹ with us in October from the Terre Haute federal prison in Indiana. After Vietnam, Lopez Rivera began to research Puerto Rican history. And the more he learned, the more he concluded that Puerto Rico was a colony of the United States.

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LOPEZ RIVERA: There were resolutions of the United Nations pointing out very, very clearly that colonialism was a crime against humanity and that colonialized people have the right to self-determination and to achieve it by any means necessary, including the use of force.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: When a bomb went off in a crowded financial district in the middle of the lunch hour. The explosion did a lot of damage, and it was felt on the upper floors of nearby skyscrapers¹⁰.

HINOJOSA: The FALN's deadliest attack happened in January of 1975, the bombing of a crowded Wall Street restaurant called Fraunces Tavern¹¹. The bomb killed four and injured 60. In 1976, the FBI located an apartment linked to Lopez Rivera where they found dynamite¹² and FALN documents. Lopez Rivera then went into hiding and wasn't caught by police until five years later. By then, the FBI had also caught 11 other members of the group.

They were tried under a rarely used statute¹³, seditious conspiracy¹⁴, which means to oppose and attempt to overthrow by force the power of the United States government. Lopez Rivera was sentenced to 55 years and later was given an additional 15 after being convicted for conspiracy to escape. Jan Susler is the lawyer for Lopez Rivera and his co-defendants.

JAN SUSLER: They were sentenced not because of what they did but because of who they were politically. Seditious conspiracy is really a thought crime. It's agreeing to be part of challenging the United States government. And in this case, it was agreeing to be part of the FALN.

HINOJOSA: In 1999, President Bill Clinton commuted¹⁵ the sentences of most of the imprisoned¹⁶ FALN members, 16 in all. Lopez Rivera was offered a deal, but he refused it because he says not all of his co-defendants were included.

Now, after almost 36 years in prison, supporters are hoping that Obama will use his pardon powers to let Lopez Rivera go. They note that he wasn't actually convicted of a crime that killed anyone, and they compare him to Nelson Mandela, who was also involved in an armed political movement and served a lengthy¹⁷ prison term. But not everyone agrees.

JOE CONNOR: I would love to ask people who support his release and say, if not a terrorist, what has Oscar Lopez done to help the Puerto Rican people?

HINOJOSA: Joe Connor was 9 years old when his father, a 33-year-old banker at J.P. Morgan, was killed in the Fraunces Tavern bombing.

CONNOR: I'm hearing he's a freedom fighter, he's done all these things, he's not violent, but what did he do if not be a terrorist? There's no answer to it because he was a terrorist.

HINOJOSA: Oscar Lopez Rivera was never convicted of the Fraunces Tavern bombing and he's denied involvement in its execution or planning. A petition to release him has over 100,000 signatures, but organizers say they've gotten no indications from the president.

The White House said it does not comment on individual pardon applications. Lopez Rivera has said he no longer condones¹⁸ violence in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence. But, he says, if he walks out of prison one day, he'll walk out with his head high.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

LOPEZ RIVERA: I have made a decision, and it was a decision dealing¹⁹ with finding meaning and purpose in life, you know, and not living a life just to exist, you know? And the struggle for me is where I found meaning in life. And I knew that that would keep me strong. And it has.

HINOJOSA: If Obama leaves him in prison, Lopez Rivera is projected for release in 2023, when he'll be 80 years old.

For NPR News, I'm Maria Hinojosa.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Maria Hinojosa is the host of NPR's Latino USA, which will air an hour-long documentary on Oscar Lopez Rivera later this month.

1 clemency   

n.温和，仁慈，宽厚

参考例句：

• The question of clemency would rest with the King.宽大处理问题，将由国王决定。
• They addressed to the governor a plea for clemency.他们向州长提交了宽刑的申辨书。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

4 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

8 imperialism   

n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策

参考例句：

• They held the imperialism in contempt.他们鄙视帝国主义。
• Imperialism has not been able to subjugate China.帝国主义不能征服中国。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

11 tavern   

n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店

参考例句：

• There is a tavern at the corner of the street.街道的拐角处有一家酒馆。
• Philip always went to the tavern,with a sense of pleasure.菲利浦总是心情愉快地来到这家酒菜馆。

12 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。

13 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

14 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

15 commuted   

通勤( commute的过去式和过去分词 )； 减（刑）； 代偿

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment. 他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• The death sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment. 死刑可能減为无期徒刑。

16 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

17 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

18 condones   

v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A morality that condones such bloodshed is totally unacceptalbe to me. 宽恕这种杀戮的道德是我完全不能接受的。 来自辞典例句
• When government condones evil, he insists, "the true place for a just man is a prison." 他坚持认为，当政府宽容罪恶时，“正直人的真正去处是监狱”。 来自哲学部分

19 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。