About Batey Urbano
Café Teatro Batey Urbano is a cultural space/youth center for action and reflection for Puerto Rican/Latino youth. We seek to create meaningful linkages between universities and the community, based on grassroots activism. Premised on the notion that our memories (our history) is the source of our imagination, Batey Urbano is a space for critical expression through spoken word, poetry, dancing, music, painting, and writing. This is achieved by fusing cultural expression and technology as means of organizing in creative ways, our work builds on the human and social capital of our community to develop youth leadership in our many programs and projects. We seek to allow for holistic multi- dimensional programming that includes multi-media technology, asset assessment and community involvement.
The Batey Urbano’s mission for the last nine years has been to provide alternatives that are youth-led and youth-driven. We strive for a participatory process that is transformative not only using traditional means of expression but also non traditional forms and variations, thus creating hybrids of multi-media and multi-artistic projects to address youth issues in a creative manner, simultaneously actively engaging youth in broader community issues. The result of this work, which is both ongoing and continually reflective, has seen a growing number of youth community builders between the ages of 13 and 25 involved in the Batey’s many projects. These organizing experiences have proven to us the importance of culture, identity and youth participation as a base for positive youth activity.
31 Days for 31 Years
The National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN), Batey Urbano and Latin@ Coalition are about to commence “31 Days for 31 Years” in which 31 activists and community residents will spend 24 hours each in a makeshift storefront cell with guard, for a total of 31 days. The exhibit, starting April 29th, also features an exhibition of Oscar’s artwork (he is a prolific painter) as well as literature and posters from the campaign to free Puerto Rican political prisoners for the past 30 years and a wall of Oscar’s letters to his supporters as well as a station where people may write to Oscar, in the Batey Urbano, located at 2620 West Division St. Chicago, IL 60622. Batey Urbano is in the heart of “Paseo Boricua” in Chicago’s Humboldt Park Neighborhood.
The purpose of this is to call attention to the continued unjust incarceration of Oscar López Rivera. The ambitious joint effort of the Latin@ Coalition, Batey Urbano and NBHRN will culminate in a major event commemorating his arrest and 31 years of imprisonment on Tuesday, May 29.
Oscar, a decorated Vietnam veteran, has been imprisoned since his arrest on May 29, 1981. Subsequently, he was charged and convicted for seditious conspiracy and minor arms charges and sentenced to 55 years. The other Puerto Rican political prisoners of his generation, arrested in 1980 and 1983 and also convicted of seditious conspiracy, were released in 1999 by President Clinton, due to mass international and domestic pressure. Oscar rejected the offer at that time because 2 others, Carlos Alberto Torres and Haydee Beltrán, were not included. Both of them have since been freed on parole.