Family of Oscar Lopez Rivera celebrate his commutation in Humboldt Park
FOX 32 NEWS - President Obama on Tuesday delivered some shocking commutations just days before leaving office, and one includes a Chicago man with links to a suspected terrorist group.
Oscar Lopez Rivera was sentenced to 70 years in prison for being a leader of an organization that planned bombings and prison escapes. All of it was in an effort to fight for Puerto Rico's independence.
Lopez Rivera’s group, FALN, was tied to an upwards of 130 bombings, including one in Chicago and another in New York that killed four in 1975.
Lopez Rivera was arrested in 1981 after federal agents found six-pounds of dynamite and four blasting caps in his Chicago apartment.
Lopez Rivera and his supporters long considered him a political prisoner who was serving an unjust sentence.
On Tuesday night, his family in Chicago celebrated the news that they have longed for.
The 74-year-old's term will expire in May. The White House noted that absent a commutation, Lopez likely would have died in prison.