San Juan, February 9 (RHC)-- Puerto Rican independence activist Oscar Lopez Rivera is set to return to the island Thursday after nearly 36 years in jail in the United States ahead of his long-awaited freedom on May 17.

New York State Assembly member Jose Rivera confirmed the transfer on his Facebook page, writing: "Family, after many years of struggle for Oscar Lopez Rivera, he is in the airport en route to Puerto Rico."

Lopez Rivera will serve out the remaining months of his sentence, set to expire on May 17, in Puerto Rico.  The transfer comes after outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama commuted Lopez' sentence last month days before President Donald Trump was inaugurated.

According to Puerto Rico's El Vocero, prison authorities planned to transfer Lopez Rivera from the Terre Haute penitentiary in Indiana, where the activists spent about two-thirds of his more than three decade jail term, to a transition house in Puerto Rico, where he will spend the final days before his sentence expires. 

Lopez Rivera was set to be accompanied by San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz on the trip from the United States to the island, Puerto Rico's El Nuevo Dia reported.