{"id":6553,"date":"2017-05-18T07:37:41","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T13:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6553"},"modified":"2017-05-18T07:37:41","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T13:37:41","slug":"chicago-celebrates-terrorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/05\/chicago-celebrates-terrorist.html","title":{"rendered":"Chicago celebrates a terrorist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ACrimeScene.jpg;<\/p>\n

Yes, indeed, while on the one hand Chicago is fretting about violence on its streets, the city is about to celebrate an authentic, unrepentant terrorist, Oscar Lopez Rivera. \u00a0As reported by the Chicago Tribune<\/a>,<\/p>\n

Lopez was considered a top leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, or FALN, an ultranationalist Puerto Rican group that claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings at government buildings, department stores, banks and restaurants in New York, Chicago, Washington and Puerto Rico during the 1970s and early 1980s.<\/p>\n

The most famous was the still-unsolved 1975 explosion that killed four people and wounded 60 at Fraunces Tavern, a landmark restaurant in New York\u2019s financial district.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now 74, he was granted clemency by President Obama just before he left office. \u00a0As reported in a Trib editorial<\/a> at the time,<\/p>\n

FBI agents discovered dynamite, detonators and firearms at two residences occupied by Lopez Rivera. At trial, a cooperating witness from the FALN testified that Lopez Rivera personally trained him in bomb-making.<\/p>\n

So Lopez Rivera is neither a low-level offender nor a nonviolent one. Nor, crucially, is he repentant. . . .<\/p>\n

In 1999, Lopez Rivera was one of 16 imprisoned Puerto Rican terrorists to whom then-President Bill Clinton offered executive clemency.<\/p>\n

He refused, reportedly because Clinton\u2019s offer did not include one of the FALN members who had tried to break him out of Leavenworth. \u00a0[This individual had subsequently been released.]<\/p>\n

In addition, Clinton required the Puerto Ricans to renounce violence as a condition of receiving clemency.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s offer this week came with no such requirement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, one might say that at the age of 74, with FALN no longer operating, he\u2019s no longer a threat. \u00a0But that\u2019s not the issue. \u00a0The issue is this: he\u2019s being given a hero\u2019s welcome in Chicago.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thousands are expected to attend a Humboldt Park homecoming ceremony Thursday afternoon that organizers said will include a procession along Division Street and a gathering at the Humboldt Park Boathouse.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez and Ald. Roberto Maldonado are expected to attend the celebration. There will also be a street naming ceremony for Lopez Rivera \u2014 an honor that was sponsored in the Chicago City Council by Maldonado.<\/p>\n

Supporters also plan to honor him at the June 11 Puerto Rican Day parade along New York\u2019s Fifth Avenue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is horrifying. \u00a0How can Chicago and its politicians preach against violence when they celebrate someone who committed violence and shows no remorse, and, near as I can figure, considers violence\u00a0a perfectly fine tool to achieve one\u2019s objectives? \u00a0Lopez Rivera was hardly someone imprisoned for political reasons. \u00a0How is the violence of FALN any different than that of Chicago\u2019s gangs?<\/p>\n

Or, rather, to move past the rhetorical question cop-outs: for Gutierrez and Maldonado to celebrate Lopez Rivera, for the City Council to give an \u201chonorary\u201d street sign, is surely something that the gangs are noticing, and, in a real way, it will set back the message of nonviolence, since the gangs, too, believe that their violence is justified.<\/p>\n

Image: \u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3ACrimeScene.jpg; By Supaflyrobby (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, indeed, while on the one hand Chicago is fretting about violence on its streets, the city is about to celebrate an authentic, unrepentant terrorist, Oscar Lopez Rivera. \u00a0As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Lopez was considered a top leader of the Armed Forces of National Liberation, or FALN, an ultranationalist Puerto Rican group that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":5270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33,627,626,628],"class_list":["post-6553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chicago","tag-faln","tag-oscar-lopez-rivera","tag-puerto-rico"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago celebrates a terrorist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, indeed, while on the one hand Chicago is fretting about violence on its streets, the city is about to celebrate an 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