Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday sent congratulations to Puerto Rican independence leader Oscar Lopez on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

Havana, January 6 (RHC)-- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday sent congratulations to Puerto Rican independence leader Oscar Lopez on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

"Congratulations, Dear Oscar: Receive on your 80th birthday a warm embrace and the affection of the Cuban people who admire you so much," the president wrote on his Twitter account.

Oscar López, born on January 6, 1943, was accused of conspiracy by the U.S. justice system after being linked to the Armed Forces for the National Liberation of Puerto Rico, an organization that fought for the independence of that island, a territory that had been a colony of the U.S. government since 1898.

His imprisonment provoked a broad movement of solidarity for his release in different parts of the world.   The independence leader was released on May 17, 2017, after serving 36 years in prison, twelve of them in solitary confinement.