Puerto Rico nationalist unexpectedly returns after term cut
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Puerto Rican nationalist who is the last of his group still serving time for his role in a violent struggle for independence for the U.S. territory unexpectedly returned to the island Thursday to serve the remainder of a sentence commuted by outgoing President Barack Obama.
Oscar Lopez Rivera disembarked from an American Airlines jet that landed in the capital of San Juan and was placed under house arrest at his daughter’s apartment. He was originally scheduled to be released from prison in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 17.
“Most prisoners go to halfway houses,” said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who had requested and helped secured the transfer of the 74-year-old Lopez. “He got to go home to be with his daughter. That’s pretty unusual.”
Gutierrez said the warden agreed to Lopez’s transfer on the condition that it would be discreet. He and others including San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin picked up Lopez in Indiana before dawn on Thursday and flew with him to Puerto Rico.