Puerto Rican nationalist attack on Congress
The Puerto Rican nationalist attack on Congress refers to a violent incident that took place on March 1, 1954, when four Puerto Rican nationalists—Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, Irvin Flores Rodríguez, and Lolita Lebrón—opened fire from the visitors' gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives. Lebrón initiated the attack by declaring "Free Puerto Rico now" and unfurling the Puerto Rican flag, which led to the wounding of five congressmen. This act of violence was rooted in a long history of Puerto Rico's struggle for independence from U.S. control, a struggle marked by significant events of repression and violence against nationalists.
The motivations behind the attack were deeply intertwined with the political climate of the time, including the influence of nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, who advocated for revolutionary action to achieve Puerto Rican independence. Although the attack intended to draw attention to their cause, it ultimately discredited the use of violence as a means of achieving independence and led to increased repression of nationalists. Over the years, various organizations, including the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), continued to engage in acts of violence, but many of those involved were later pardoned. The attack highlighted the complexities of Puerto Rican politics and the ongoing debate surrounding the island's status, including its relationship with the U.S. and the viability of independence as a political goal.
Puerto Rican nationalist attack on Congress
The Event Four Puerto Rican nationalists fired bullets at members of Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives
Date March 1, 1954
As a violent reaction against the creation of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the attack on Congress was met with extensive repression of Puerto Rican nationalists and a progressive decline in the popularity of independence as a political option.
On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists—Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, Irvin Flores Rodríguez, and Lolita Lebrón—seated themselves as tourists in the visitors’ gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives. When Lebrón unfurled the Puerto Rican flag and shouted “Free Puerto Rico now,” her comrades fired down upon the floor, wounding five congressmen. Cancel, Figueroa, and Lebrón were immediately apprehended, and Flores was later captured in a bus station.
“I did not come here to kill; I came here to die,” Lebrón cried out during the assault. A note in her purse explained that she was willing to give her life to free her homeland from the subjugation of the United States. She denounced the “barbarous torture” of the leader of the Partido Nacionalista, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, who preached that only revolutionary action would lead to Puerto Rican independence.
A cycle of violence and repression had begun in 1935, when three nationalists were killed in a gun battle at the University of Puerto Rico, leading the following year to the assassination of the chief of police and the imprisonment of Albizu. Violence continued on Palm Sunday in 1937, when nineteen nationalists were killed in an unauthorized parade held in Ponce, where Albizu Campos had been born, producing yet another round of assassination and retaliation. In 1950, with the proposal to transform Puerto Rico into a commonwealth, nationalists attacked seven Puerto Rican towns and the governor’s official residence and attempted to assassinate U.S. president Harry S. Truman . Albizu was jailed again until he was pardoned by Governor Luis Muñoz Marín in September, 1953, five months before the attack on Congress. Albizu was re-imprisoned until Muñoz Marín pardoned him again in 1964.
Lebrón and her fellow revolutionaries were condemned to life imprisonment by a U.S. court. In 1976, after outgoing U.S. president Gerald Ford suggested that Puerto Rico should be made a state, the revolutionary Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) sent letter bombs to federal officials and set off three bombs in Manhattan, New York. When Figueroa was diagnosed with terminal cancer the following year, it was feared that his death would make a martyr for the Puerto Rican underground, and he was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter. In 1979, with increasing commentary that the imprisoned Puerto Rican nationalists were political prisoners, they were all pardoned and were received warmly upon returning to Puerto Rico.
Impact
The assault on Congress did little to advance Puerto Rico toward independence, as it discredited the use of violence and led to continued repression of nationalists. The Partido Independista Puertorriqueño (PIP) swore loyalty to the constitution creating the commonwealth but denounced it as a colonial farce. Ideologically divided between Marxists and militant Roman Catholics, the PIP obtained only 86,386 votes in 1956, and only 24,103 in 1960. In official plebiscites, independence repeatedly decreased in popularity to less than 3 percent of the total vote. Members of the FALN committed some 130 terrorist acts between 1974 and 1983, but most were pardoned eventually by President Bill Clinton.
Bibliography
Fernandez, Ronald. Prisoners of Colonialism: The Struggle for Justice in Puerto Rico. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994. A defense of various champions of Puerto Rican independence.
Ribes Tovar, Federico. A Chronological History of Puerto Rico. New York: Educational Publishers, 1973. A chronology of Puerto Rican history, including accounts of nationalist revolutionary actions during the decade.