Lolita Lebrón (; November 19, 1919 – August 1, 2010) was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of aggravated assault and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wounding of five members of the United States Congress. She was released from prison in 1979 after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter. Lebrón was born and raised in Lares, Puerto Rico, where she joined the Puerto Rican Liberal Party. In her youth she met Francisco Matos Paoli, a Puerto Rican poet, with whom she had a relationship. In 1941, Lebrón migrated to New York City, where she joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, gaining influence within the party's leadership.
In the early 1950s, the Nationalist Party began a series of revolutionary actions, including the 1950 Jayuya Uprising against American presence on the island. They conducted these attacks to protest the false and misleading claims by the United States government and Luis Muñoz Marín that Puerto Rico would no longer be dominated by the United States. As part of this initiative, Pedro Albizu Campos ordered Lebrón to organize attacks in the United States, focusing on locations that were "the most strategic to the enemy." Lebrón led a group of nationalists that attacked the United States House of Representatives in 1954.
She was convicted, found guilty and incarcerated as a result. Lebrón remained imprisoned for 25 years, until 1979 when Jimmy Carter issued commutations to the group involved in the attack. After their release in 1979, the group returned to Puerto Rico, where supporters of Puerto Rican independence received them warmly. During the following years, Lebrón continued her involvement in pro-independence activities, including the protesting the existence of a United States Navy base at Vieques. Her life would be subsequently detailed in books and a documentary. On August 1, 2010, Lebrón died from complications of a cardiorespiratory infection.
Early life Lebrón (birth name: Dolores Lebrón Sotomayor ) was one of five siblings born in Lares, Puerto Rico to Gonzalo Lebrón Bernal and Rafaela Soto Luciano; the other four children were Aurea, Augusto, Gonzalo Jr. and Julio. Lebrón was raised in Hacienda Pezuelas in Pezuela, a barrio in Lares.Ribes Tovar et al., p.17 Gonzalo Lebrón worked as the hacienda's foreman earning a salary of $30 a month. The owner allowed Lebrón to live in a "small house" and also permitted the family to plant produce.Ribes Tovar et al., p.19
In Pezuela, Lebrón began her education in a small community school.Ribes Tovar et al., p.20 Early in her life, Lebrón contracted pneumonia when she accidentally fell into a gutter that was full of water. As a consequence of this illness, she grew with a frail body and was unable to keep up with the constant activities of her brothers without feeling fatigue.Ribes Tovar et al., p.21 She developed an introverted and contemplative personality, often spending time admiring nature around the hacienda.
From Pezuela the family moved to Mirasol, also in Lares, where Gonzalo Lebrón administered a hacienda owned by Emilio Vilellas. There Lolita received a better education and attended a local public school.Ribes Tovar et al., p.23 When Lebrón completed the sixth grade she attended the Segunda Unidad Rural, a middle school located in Bartolo, an adjacent barrio.Ribes Tovar et al., p.25 She concluded her formal public school education in the eighth grade.Ribes Tovar et al., p.33
Lebrón had uncommonly good looks and when she was a teenager won first place in the annual "Queen of the Flowers of May" beauty contest held in Lares. Although her father was an atheist, Lebrón was baptized in the Catholic faith when she was fourteen years as were her other siblings.Ribes Tovar et al., p.37 During the baptism celebration she met Francisco Matos Paoli, who became her first boyfriend.Ribes Tovar et al., p.38 Paoli and Lebrón wrote letters to each other in which they exchanged the poetry which they wrote.Ribes Tovar et al., p.42 According to Jossianna Arroyo, Lolita wrote "more mystical poetry, centered on what she called 'visions' filled with religious symbolism." Paoli's family opposed their relationship because they considered Lebrón a jíbara (peasant). Her father also opposed this relationship and ordered her to stop writing Paoli. However, they both continued to write each other until Paoli moved out of the city.Ribes Tovar et al., p.43–44
Lebrón eventually moved to San Juan, where she studied sewing and continued her correspondence with Paoli.Ribes Tovar et al., p.46 She felt duty bound to return to Lares because her father was severely affected by tuberculosis.Ribes Tovar et al., p.66 The family was forced to abandon the house in the hacienda, but Ramón Santiago later provided them with a new house.Ribes Tovar et al., p.67
Lebrón took upon herself the responsibility of taking care of her father. She would travel to a nearby town to buy medicines for her father, which she gave him every seventy minutes.Ribes Tovar et al., p.68 For seven days she didn't sleep or eat while taking care of him. Following his death, Lebrón began supporting herself by weaving clothes.Ribes Tovar et al., p.73
Political activism Although Lebrón was a member of the Liberal Party from a young age, she didn't display any interest in politics. However, her posture changed after March 21, 1937, when a group of militants from the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party were killed during a peaceful protest which became known as the Ponce massacre.Ribes Tovar et al., p.75 Lebrón who was eighteen years old at the time, developed a nationalistic ideology following this event.Ribes Tovar et al., p.79 During this timeframe, Lebrón had a relationship with a local engineer, following the advice of her family. When she was twenty-one years old she gave birth to her first daughter Gladys, who was left in Rafaela Luciano's custody after Lebrón was separated from her husband and moved to New York City.Ribes Tovar et al., p.86 After she arrived in New York City, she started to experience problems finding employment, mostly because she did not fully understand English.Ribes Tovar et al., p.93 Lebrón worked as a seamstress in several factories. She was fired from some of her jobs because she was considered a "rebel by her bosses" after she protested against the discrimination which she witnessed against Puerto Rican workers. This influenced her nationalistic views even further and she eventually established contact with members of the Puerto Rican Liberation Movement. She enrolled at George Washington College, where she studied for two years during her free time from work. She married again when she was twenty-two years old and gave birth to her second child, whom she would send to Puerto Rico to live with her mother, a year later.Ribes Tovar et al., p.94 Lebrón decided to divorce her husband because she felt that he was oppressing her.Ribes Tovar et al., p.95 In 1943, there was a massive migration of Puerto Ricans from Puerto Rico to New York, composed mostly of seeking employment. Lebrón grew increasingly frustrated when she observed how they were forced to live in poverty, under social decadence, and prejudice, and she increased her work within nationalist circles.Ribes Tovar et al., p.98–100 In 1946, she formally became a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, following the advice of a friend. During this time she developed an admiration for the Party's president Pedro Albizu Campos, studying and memorizing his biography and ideals.Ribes Tovar et al., p.101 After joining the party, Lebrón inadvertently included some of her own initiatives within the organization's ideals, these were influenced by socialist and feminist ideals.Ribes Tovar et al., p.111 Seeking more involvement in society and politics for women, new economic systems and social reforms that would protect women and children. Her constant involvement in the party's affairs earned her several high-ranking positions, among them those of secretary, vice-president, and executive delegate of its delegation in New York.Ribes Tovar et al., p.115
On May 21, 1948, a bill was introduced before the Puerto Rican Senate which would restrain the rights of the independence and nationalist movements in the archipelago. The Senate, controlled by the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín, approved the bill that day."La obra jurídica del Profesor David M. Helfeld (1948–2008)'; by: Dr. Carmelo Delgado Cintrón This bill, which resembled the anti-communist Smith Act passed in the United States in 1940, became known as the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law) when the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero, signed it into law on June 10, 1948.
Under this new law it would be a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government; or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent. It made it illegal to sing a patriotic song, and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the Flag of Puerto Rico, with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 (), or both. According to Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa, the only non-PPD member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, the law was repressive and was in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees Freedom of Speech. He pointed out that the law as such was a violation of the civil rights of the people of Puerto Rico.
On November 1, 1950, following a series of uprisings in Puerto Rico which included the Jayuya Uprising and the Utuado Uprising which culminated in a massacre, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola invaded Harry S. Truman's residence, carrying a letter written by Albizu Campos and addressed to Truman. A shootout erupted between the duo and the guard stationed there, killing Torresola. Collazo was badly injured but survived and was sentenced to death by an American jury. The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party claimed that their goal was to "draw attention to the fact of Puerto Rico's continued colonial status", while the American government and media treated it as an assassination attempt. Following the sentence, Lebrón quickly joined the "Committee for Oscar Collazo's defense", participating in numerous public manifestations which eventually led to a presidential commutation.Ribes Tovar et al., p.122 On July 25, 1952, the official name of Puerto Rico was changed to Estado Libre Associado (commonwealth of the United States) as a constitution was promulgated by Luis Muñoz Marín, the islands' first elected governor. In 1954, Lebrón received a letter from Albizu Campos, in which he declared his intention to order attacks on "three locations, the most strategic to the enemy".Ribes Tovar et al., p.132
Assault on the House of Representatives
Attack preparations