As soon as the news that Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera’s sentence was commuted reached Lin-Manuel Miranda, the “Hamilton” creator tweeted that he was “sobbing with gratitude.” And he added that, as a result, he plans to play Alexander Hamilton at a Chicago performance for Lopez Rivera.
“I wish I was with everyone in Chicago right now,” tweeted Miranda, who, as a child, spent many summers with his grandparents on Puerto Rico.
Miranda tweeted New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito that when she talks to Lopez Rivera, she should tell him, “I’ve got a show for him in Chicago. It’ll be my honor to play Hamilton the night he goes.”
Oscar Lopez Rivera. Undated file photo. (AP Photo/National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners)
Miranda last played the title role at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York on July 9, 2016. “Hamilton” is now playing at Chicago’s PrivateBank Theatre.
Chicago-bred Rivera, leader of the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), was among the 200 people granted a pardon by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. A paramilitary organization that advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico, the FALN is said to have been responsible for more than 70 bomb attacks on U.S. targets between 1974 and 1983.
And there is this small irony: In 1976, the group exploded a bomb outside the Shubert Theatre, injuring five people. The Shubert is now The PrivateBank Theatre, where “Hamilton” is playing.
