No property damage or armed struggle. For former political prisoner Oscar Lopez, vandalizing or damaging private property–as was the case on May 1–is not a valid protest mechanism. He believes Puerto Rico’s social and historic juncture has changed, which is why he does not favor the armed struggle as a vehicle for achieving the country’s decolonization.

According to Lopez Rivera, the vandalism that took place after the conclusion of the official event commemorating May 1, International Workers’ Day, was a mistake that tarnished the participation of the thousands of people who were demanding justice in defense of their rights in a peaceful manner.

‘No (it is not a valid protest mechanism). I think the May 1 manifestation, seeing thousands upon thousands of people demanding justice, and especially workers… I could never accept tarnishing that. I’m sure that, if we asked most of the people who participated in the event, they would say that those weren’t our people. They don’t represent us.’

Though it is impossible for organizers to control everything that happens in an event as heavily attended as the one on May 1, the ex-political prisoner did not rule out that it may have been a strategy caused to disrupt the political march.

Without naming names, he pointed a finger at a person with the hierarchy and power to make these decisions and who he believes also has the experience. On May 1, the secretary of the newly created Department of Public Security, Héctor Pesquera, who has experience in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made his debut.

‘That can’t be controlled.But I know from experience—because I’ve lived it—that they’ve used agent provocateurs. Especially in the presence of an individual here in Puerto Rico who is an expert at that. He knows how to handle that and he’s the most powerful person to make decisions of that kind, and with ample knowledge,’ the former political prisoner pointed out.

After almost 36 years in prison, Lopez Rivera said he no longer believes in the armed struggle as a result of changes in Puerto Rico’s reality.

‘Since the ‘90s, especially with the fight for Vieques, we saw a radical change in how we were fighting for Puerto Rico. There’s a big difference. Many years ago, we said we weren’t going to promote the armed struggle and that we weren’t in favor of the armed struggle. What was being done wasn’t necessary anymore,’ he said.

He said he belonged to the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN, in Spanish), an organization that promoted what he called ‘armed propaganda’ in response to the wave of persecution and institutional violence against the independence movement.

‘At the time we started fighting, it was more because of the threats we felt were being lived in Puerto Rico and the attacks against the independence movement. The US government’s position has been to annihilate or destroy nationalism. For us, the issue of moving the independence of Puerto Rico forward was absolutely necessary. The moment demanded that we take measures that were very careful but effective,’ he explained.

He stated that Puerto Rico is living a key moment for achieving its decolonization, but by using other mechanisms.

‘I think this is a key moment for decolonizing Puerto Rico. The common denominator for decolonizing Puerto Rico has to be that love for our country. If we want to be Puerto Ricans, it is up to all of us who love our country to fight for it.’

According to Lopez Rivera, more than an armed struggle, the members of the FALN believed in armed propaganda, which is ‘very different. Those were activities that were necessary. I wasn’t going to do anything that put the life of another human being in danger. For me, human life is sacred.’

However, he insisted those were different times. That the historical moment was very different to the one Puerto Rico is living in the 21st century. At the time, there were orchestrated attacks and threats against the Puerto Rican independence movement. These attacks are still being kept in the dark by the governing parties.

He remembered, for example, that two weeks before the infamous FALN attack to Fraunces Tavern in 1975, detractors of the independence movement placed an explosive device in a store, killing two independence activists in an event held by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in Mayagüez. Ten people were injured.

Oscar Lopez insisted that, on January 24, 1975, during the attack on the restaurant located in the Wall Street district of New York City, he was in Puerto Rico and that none of the evidence in the hands of the FBI connects him to the attack. Four people were killed and more than forty were injured.

He said the controversy over the tribute he will receive in the Puerto Rican Day Parade is a concerted action by ‘political elements’ in Puerto Rico. He affirmed it is related to the plebiscite that will be held on the island simultaneously with the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

‘This case is very related to Puerto Rican politics. I don’t think it’s an accident, but it also doesn’t have a lot to do with my case. It has a lot to do with sowing hatred and fear, and a lot of politics is based on that. This is a political decision,’ he stated.