Freeing the Mandela of the America - Episode Two

Anatomy of Resistance

Some have called him the Mandela of the Americas. After 35 years in prison, Oscar Lopez Rivera was released in March 2017 following an executive clemency order issued by President Obama during his final week in office. The significance of freeing a political prisoner was a landmark presidential action, but its importance was accentuated because Puerto Rico, as a continuing colony of the United States and its beachhead, is in dire economic crisis. Additionally, because from the time Oscar and his compatriots were captured up until his release this spring, the movement to free him grew into a multifaceted movement for mass decolonization, for which he is now an acknowledged leader. Our guest, Matt Meyer, has been one of the key people behind the global campaign to free Oscar. Matt is the U.S. national co-chair of the world's oldest interfaith peace-and-justice-building organization, the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He was a coordinator of the international leg of Oscar's freedom campaign since the late 1980s. His work in solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico, including the armed movements that Oscar was part of, was in no way hindered by Matt’s 40-year leadership in nonviolent resistance movements. This includes time as coordinator of the War Resisters International Africa Support Network and as a U.N. representative of the International Peace Research Association. Matt wrote the introduction to and helped edit Oscar's memoir Between Torture and Resistance, which details the story of the Puerto Rican nationalist and includes a special foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.