Calle 13 singer René Pérez joined one of the many marches held in Puerto Rico, the United States, and Europe to call for the release of political prisoner Oscar López Rivera. He joined about 300 people yesterday to walk across the Williamsburg Bridge in New York. “Marching towards Brooklyn for the freedom of Oscar López,” he wrote through his Twitter account. Thus Perez joined thousands of Puerto Ricans from many diverse sectors yesterday [40,000 in Puerto Rico alone] to demand the release of this hemisphere’s longest-held political prisoner. [See previous post https://repeatingislands.com/2013/11/24/on-the-island-over-40000-march-for-release-of-puerto-rican-political-prisoner/.]

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, about 40,000 protesters marched from the grounds of the Federal Court (Chardón Street, Hato Rey) to the Hiram Bithorn Stadium. There were also marches in New York, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Slowly, there are incoming reports and photos attesting to companion demonstrations in other cities around the world. In Spain, a Puerto Rican journalist, Melissa Solórzano, placed a photo of a demonstration in Madrid on her Twitter account (@solorzanomeli). In the photo, one can see demonstrators with signs that read: “Freedom Now for Oscar López Rivera” and “Obama: We Want Oscar Home Now.”

For a full article on the NYC march (in Spanish), see http://www.primerahora.com/entretenimiento/farandula/nota/calle13seuneamarchaporlaliberaciondeoscarlopez-972271/