Oscar López Rivera was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico on 6 January 1943. His family moved to the U.S. when he was nine years old. At the age of 14, he moved to Chicago to live with a sister. At age 18 he was drafted into the army and served in Vietnam and awarded the Bronze Star.
López Rivera was among the 14 convicted FALN members offered conditional clemency by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1999, but rejected the offer. Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, has stated that "the primary reason that López Rivera did not accept the clemency offer extended to him in 1999 was because it had not also been extended to fellow FALN prisoner Carlos Torres (who was subsequently released from prison in July 2010).
Also, López Rivera was one of the founders of La Escuelita Puertorriqueña.



