Havana, May 18 (RHC-PL)-- Puerto Rican independence leader Oscar López Rivera thanked the Cuban government and people for their support for the international campaign to win his release.

Lopez Rivera was released Wednesday from house arrest in San Juan after former U.S. President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January, just days before Donald Trump's inauguration.

Via a telephone conversation with the President of the Havana-based Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) Fernando González, López Rivera confirmed that he will visit Cuba in November this year to personally thank Cuban authorities and people for their support for his cause.

The phone conversation took place as ICAP hosted a solidarity event to celebrate López Rivera's release. On hand were hundreds of Puerto Rican and Cuban activists.  Fernándo González, one of the Five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who served long, unfair terms in U.S. jails, recalled the years he and the Puerto Rican independence leader were cell-mates in the U.S.  The Cuban hero described those as the most bearable years of his long imprisonment.  

The ICAP president congratulated the Puerto Rican people, noting that millions the world over are celebrating the final release of Oscar López Rivera.