Oscar López Rivera
**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.
Date & Time
Wed, Feb 26 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Address (map)
MultiCultural Center University Center Room 1504 University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2036
Venue (website)
MultiCultural Center
Who: Oscar López Rivera, Puerto Rican activist and former political prisoner
What: Oscar López Rivera West Coast Tour—Two Years Later: Resistance and Resilience, Santa Barbara appearances
When: Wednesday, February 26, 6 PM
Where: University of California, Santa Barbara, MultiCultural Center
For the past few years, Puerto Rico has been hit with hurricanes, earthquakes, political corruption, and a massive debt. A bright spot for the Puerto Rican diaspora amidst Puerto Rico’s troubles is the return of the Puerto Rican freedom fighter Oscar López Rivera to Santa Barbara as part of his west coast tour this month.
López Rivera kicks off his tour in Seattle, travels to the Bay Area, and finishes the tour in Santa Barbara. López Rivera will be discussing his prison experience, past community organizing in Chicago, his current organizing in Puerto Rico, the struggle to cancel Puerto Rico’s debt, current efforts to decolonize Puerto Rico and how climate change affects Puerto Rico. The public will have the opportunity to ask López Rivera about the current situation in Puerto Rico with regards to the major earthquakes, the aftermath of Hurricane María, and the remarkable mobilization of the Puerto Rican people in 2019 that led to the resignation of governor Ricardo Roselló.
Currently, López Rivera is actively organizing against the corruption on the island. He is also involved in earthquake reconstruction efforts by delivering relief from the diaspora to the southern Puerto Rican municipalities most affected by the recent series of tremors.
On Wednesday, February 26, López Rivera will be part of a panel discussion featuring community and university personnel at the MultiCultural Center on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. López Rivera’s books, Between Torture and Resistance and Cartas a Karina, will be on sale at both events with a book signing immediately following. There will be an auction of two of López Rivera’s paintings.
All funds raised on the tour will go to the Fundación OLR-Libertá, a 501c3 created by López Rivera to expand his work in Puerto Rico.
CONTACT : Dr Diane Fujino, 805/893-2960, fujino@asamst.ucsb.edu; Matef Harmachis, 805/637-0852, mharm@hotmail.com