My essay on the Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera “Oscar López Rivera and the Cabanillas” is out in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Please read and share. Oscar’s case–and the miscarriage of justice at the heart of it–deserves to be known and talked about far more widely than it is now. I owe many thanks to Fernando Cabanillas and Jan Susler of the People’s Law Office for their help in writing this essay.
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Samir Chopra 
Dear Samir Chopra, thank you many times for writing this. Like most US Americans, I was only dimly aware of Lopez Rivera’s imprisonment. But now I am, and thus I cannot simply turn away. In March and April, the theatre company I help to run, Medicine Show (one of NYC’s longest-runninng expeerimental theatres, 46 years now), will present three one-act plays by the late great but neglected Puerto Rican playwright Jack Agueros. One of the plays is called “Ye Tragical Historie of Doctor Pedro Albizu Campos” and is, or course, very much concerned with precisely what you write about – our US hypocrisy toward “our” island. I cannot decide things on my own, since we are a collective, but I have suggested to my comrades that we dedicate the performances to Lopez Rivera. Whatever our eventual decision, however, I thank you again for shining the light of your lucid prose on this horror.
Very truly yours,
Chris Brandt
Managing Director, Medicine Show
Adjunct Professor, Peace and Justice Program, Fordham University
emaail: chribrndt@aol.com
Dear Chris, thanks for your kind comment. I’m glad you liked my essay. Thanks too, for pointing me to your theater company – your play sound wonderful, and I hope to attend it. Would you mind if I reproduced your comment – perhaps here on my blog, or on my Facebook page? Besides noting your response to my post, it might also help bring some attention to the work you are doing.
best,
Samir