Chicago celebrates a terrorist

Last updated on: May 18, 2017 at 7:37 am by Jane the Actuary

Chicago celebrates a terrorist 2017-05-18T07:37:41-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

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. As 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 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.

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’s financial district.

Now 74, he was granted clemency by President Obama just before he left office. As reported in a Trib editorial at the time,

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.

So Lopez Rivera is neither a low-level offender nor a nonviolent one. Nor, crucially, is he repentant. . . .

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

He refused, reportedly because Clinton’s offer did not include one of the FALN members who had tried to break him out of Leavenworth. [This individual had subsequently been released.]

In addition, Clinton required the Puerto Ricans to renounce violence as a condition of receiving clemency.

Obama’s offer this week came with no such requirement.

Now, one might say that at the age of 74, with FALN no longer operating, he’s no longer a threat. But that’s not the issue. The issue is this: he’s being given a hero’s welcome in Chicago.

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.

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 — an honor that was sponsored in the Chicago City Council by Maldonado.

Supporters also plan to honor him at the June 11 Puerto Rican Day parade along New York’s Fifth Avenue.

This is horrifying. How 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 a perfectly fine tool to achieve one’s objectives? Lopez Rivera was hardly someone imprisoned for political reasons. How is the violence of FALN any different than that of Chicago’s gangs?

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 “honorary” 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.

Image: https://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

Previous Post

May 15, 2017

So, President Pence, eh?

Next Post

May 22, 2017 Wishful thinking isn't enough: the demise of tracking at Illinois high schools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What happened to the first stone tablets of the Ten Commandments?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pharaoh destroyed them They were placed in the Ark Moses broke them They were lost in battle