Montevideo, December 25 (RHC-teleSUR) -- The United States government could free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera, as announced by a relative on Wednesday.

Negotiations to free the Puerto Rican prisoner are being held between the U.S. government and Uruguay, after Uruguayan president Jose Mujica requested U.S. President Barack Obama to free him.

The Puerto Rican governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said yesterday that his government is also urging the White House to free the political activist.

Marcia Rivera, a prominent academic relative of Lopez Rivera who lives in Uruguay, announced through her Facebook account that the liberation of the activist could come very soon.

On Monday, relatives of Lopez held a press conference in support of the prisoner, which included a call from Oscar from jail, thanking his supporters for their efforts throughout these 33 years of imprisonment.

Oscar Lopez was arrested and convicted in 1981 on charges of conspiracy against the state, after authorities found a bomb factory in an apartment allegedly belonging to him. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

As Puerto Rican student activist Victor Torres Rodriguez explained to teleSUR: “The issue has been progressively understood as a human rights issue. Even people favoring the annexation of Puerto Rico from the U.S. are in favor of the liberation of Lopez.”

The Uruguayan President Mujica requested, in an open letter to President Obama earlier this month, the liberation of the Cuban Five and the end of the Cuban blockade, as well as the liberation of Oscar Lopez Rivera.