Two Important Guests to Visit Ministers in the Bronx

What You Should Know
By State Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
32nd Senatorial District
(718) 991-3161

Two Important Guests to Visit Ministers in the Bronx

You should know that this coming Thursday, April 2, 2015, during the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization's weekly meeting, my fellow ministers and I will receive two very important guests, separate and independent of each other.

One of those visitors will be the former President of the Dominican Republic and the President of the Modern Revolutionary Party: the Honorable Hipólito Mejía.

It is important for you to know that I received a letter from Mr. Manuel Durán who serves as the International Director of Operations for the Honorable Hipólito Mejía, where he stated that President Mejía will be paying a courtesy visit to our Minister’s meeting at 10AM this week.

You should know that Hipólito Mejía served as President of the Dominican Republic from 2000 - 2004, and he remains beloved among many.  It is a great honor for me and the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization that President Hipólito Mejía will attend our meeting and address our ministers as many dignitaries continue to do.

The second important person we will be receiving on Thursday morning is Mr. José Lopez, the brother of Puerto Rican activist Oscar López Rivera. José Lopez is requesting for us to participate in the ProLibertad Freedom Campaign that seeks clemency for his brother.

Oscar López Rivera was a founder of F.A.L.N. a separatist group that advocated for the complete independence for Puerto Rico from the United States. (F.A.L.N. stands for Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional - in English, it means Armed Forces of National Liberation.) In 1981 - along with Elizam Escobar, Ricardo Jimenez, Adolfo Matos, Alfredo Mendez, Dylcia Noemi Pagan, Alicia Rodriguez, Ida Luz Rodriguez, Luis Rosa, Carlos Alberto Torres, and Carmen Valentin, - Oscar López Rivera was arrested and sentenced for serious acts committed to promote Puerto Rico's liberation.

After 34 years, all of the F.A.L.N. members have been freed, except for Oscar López Rivera who remains behind bars.

Mr. López's brother, together with Assemblyman José Rivera and many Puerto Rican leaders and leaders from various international groups, have joined together in a humanitarian appeal to President Barack Obama to use his powers to grant clemency for Oscar López Rivera.  According to José López and leaders of this movement, President Obama has liberated people who have done far worse things than Oscar López Rivera.

Mr. José Lopez lives in Chicago, and on Thursday, he will come to our meeting with the task of explaining his brother's suffering over the past 34 years. According to him, it is time for his brother to be released from prison.

It is important for you to know that these two guests - apart and separate from each other - will be addressing the ministers at different times, Mr. José López brother will make his presentation at 9AM, and the Honorable Hipólito Mejía will address the ministers at 10AM.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see our ministers have a full agenda this week, and you can be assured that we will listen very carefully to what they have to say.

I am State Senator Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.