Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who lobbied hard for Lopez’s commutation, and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio both offered Obama their thanks.
During the group’s heyday from 1974 to 1983, the FALN was responsible for more than 130 bombings across the United States, the deadliest of which was the 1975 Fraunces Tavern bombing in Manhattan that killed four people and wounded 63 more. In the following years, FALN members threatened to blow up U.S. nuclear facilities, kidnapped Democratic and Republican presidential campaign workers at gunpoint during the 1980 race, and even planned to kidnap President Reagan’s son Ron in 1981. The FALN’s stated purpose for all this mayhem and terror was to create a Marxist and independent government in Puerto Rico similar to that of the communist Castro regime in Cuba.
While the above activities were taking place, Lopez was at the top of the FALN’s chain of command and played a primary role in training new terrorist members to construct homemade explosive devices and conduct bombing attacks. Lopez was also involved in planning armed robberies to help fill the financial coffers of the group, thereby enabling it to actively and continuously carry out terrorist attacks over the years of its existence.
Source: FLASHBACK: Obama Pardoned Terrorist FALN Leader Oscar Lopez Rivera – Chris Reeves
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