March 6, 2025 • 28 mins
On March 1, 1954, four Puerto Rican Nationalists opened fire on the house of Representatives chamber at the US Capitol. They were led by Lolita Lebron, a woman who some see as a hero and others as a terrorist.
Cristina tells Carmen about Lolita Lebron, leading up to the March 1st attack.
If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/
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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex
Sources
https://www.paseomedia.org/episodes/12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_Lebr%C3%B3n
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricans_in_New_York_City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act
https://web.archive.org/web/20170506201050/https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-1/ylp-reader.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_United_States_Capitol_shooting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayuya_Uprising
https://www.roosevelt.nl/en/from-the-vaults/lolita-lebron-there-is-no-need-now-to-kill-for-freedom/
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03lebron.html
https://www.workers.org/2022/03/62656/
https://mediaburn.org/video/the-defense-of-lolita-lebron-an-interview-with-conrad-lynn/
https://mronline.org/2010/08/07/puerto-rico-remembers-independence-fighter-lolita-lebron/
https://www.npr.org/2010/08/03/128959759/remembering-puerto-rican-activist-lolita-lebron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Matos_Paoli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Albizu_Campos
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/caracas-conference-1954
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support.
Cristina tells Carmen about Lolita Lebron, leading up to the March 1st attack.
If you have topic suggestions, feel free to email Historiasunknownpodcast@gmail.com or use the contact us form on the website https://www.historiasunknown.com/contact/
Want ad free episodes? And the ocassioal bonus episode? Support Historias Unknown on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/HistoriasUnknownPodcast
Follow on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historiasunknown/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@historiasunknown
Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex
Sources
https://www.paseomedia.org/episodes/12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_Lebr%C3%B3n
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Ricans_in_New_York_City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act
https://web.archive.org/web/20170506201050/https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-1/ylp-reader.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_United_States_Capitol_shooting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayuya_Uprising
https://www.roosevelt.nl/en/from-the-vaults/lolita-lebron-there-is-no-need-now-to-kill-for-freedom/
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03lebron.html
https://www.workers.org/2022/03/62656/
https://mediaburn.org/video/the-defense-of-lolita-lebron-an-interview-with-conrad-lynn/
https://mronline.org/2010/08/07/puerto-rico-remembers-independence-fighter-lolita-lebron/
https://www.npr.org/2010/08/03/128959759/remembering-puerto-rican-activist-lolita-lebron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Matos_Paoli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Albizu_Campos
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/caracas-conference-1954
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/historias-unknown--6253658/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi, I am Christina and this is Estodia's Unknown. This
episode was supposed to be just one episode, but because
we're going to be on vacation, we decided to split
it into two in a place where it makes sense.
If you are a member of our Patreon, then you
will get this episode all together and we'll be back
next week with the second part. Hi everyone, This is
(00:31):
Carmen and Christina and this is estodia Is Unknown. A
podcast where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's
horrible and deals with tibe topics like criticism, corruption, and genocide,
but more than that, it's also about resistance, power and community.
And I wanted to talk about well, I've been wanting
to talk about who I'm talking about today for a
very long time, and I was like, there's no better
(00:52):
time than March, because one, it's Women's History Month, but
also the events that take place during her story happened
on March first, nineteen fifty four. Her story, not his story,
exactly her story. So yeah, that's why I wanted to
talk about. So what was the year because I just
was thinking her story, Oh wow, Okay, March first, nineteen
(01:14):
fifty four, fifty four Okay, I heard the March first
prize and hear the year. Yeah. So here's my little
thing before I introduce who I'm talking about. Hey, you mystery?
Yeah yeah, Well, because I want to see if you
know who it is after I say this a right,
you know, I don't remember anyone. Okay, go on, I'm
quizzing you, not a quiz, a pop quiz. Can sign
up for a pop quiz. This is what I'm here for.
(01:35):
I'm lean, okay. So on March first, nineteen fifty four,
for Puerto Rican nationalists open fire on the House of
Representatives chamber at the US Capitol. They were led by
Lolita Lebron. Okay, a woman who you do know who
she is? I knew of this, I know her generally,
(01:55):
but in the moment, I'm glad you say her name
because I was not gonna remember her name. Okay. No,
I was always gonna say her name. Okay. I thought
we're gonna be like, go and who is the andle
them who led them to open fire on the House
for person So not the first time that the capital
saw an act of quote unquote terror, because I don't
consider this an active terror. I'm sorry, but Okay, no,
(02:20):
I'm FBI agent that's listening and I'm just kidding. No.
Some and she's a very like polarizing figure. Some people
see her as a hero as right, She's a hero
to me, and others see her as a terrorist. I mean,
I guess it depends on you ask like you just said, yeah,
Like if you're asking me hero yeah, yeah. And even
(02:42):
if people don't agree with what she did, she they
still see her as a heroic figure in Puerto Rican
history because not everyone agrees with what she did. Right
that day, I'm a capital because some people were like, oh,
it's too much violence, but we'll get into it. But yeah,
that's what we're talking about today. Full name Dolores lebron
Lolita lebron So. She was born in Lattis, Puerto Rico,
(03:04):
on November nineteenth, nineteen nineteen, and she was one of
five siblings. Her parents were Gonzalo lebron Bernard and Rafaela
so To Luciano. Her sylings were Aurea, Agusto, Gonzalo Junior
and Julio and they were raised in Ascienda Bezuelas in
the Batrio of Bezuela in Lattice Puerto Rico, and her
father worked as the ascienda's foreman, earning a wopping thirty
(03:28):
dollars a month for this, Oh my god. But because
she was foreman, they were given a small house on
the essenda to live in, and they were also allowed
to grow some food in this little house, and the
Lebron children attended a small community school. But Lorita found
herself unable to keep up with her siblings because she
fell into a gutter when she was small was full
(03:49):
of water, and this resulted in hurricane in pneumonia. Wow. Yeah.
And after that she suffered from years of fatigue, and
she grew up to be a little frail And who
would think that this little frail girl would lead a shootout? Yes?
Well what was a shooting? Yes? Yeah? And maybe because
(04:14):
she couldn't keep up with her siblings anymore, she was
she wasn't out there running a bunch with them in
the neighborhood. It could have been the reason. It strengthened her,
strengthened her want to read and like seeking knowledge and
oh my god, I can't now I can't read, yes,
thank you? And yeah, she just you know, spent time
indoors reading and stuff like that. Eventually, the family moved
(04:37):
from Besuela to Mirasol, a different neighborhood in Lattice. Here,
her father, Gonzalo was the foreman of another ascent that
owned by Emilio via Yes. And in Mirasol, Lolita was
able to receive a better education. She attended the local
public school and then after completing sixth grade, she attended
the Seunda Rural that's her saving in Spanish, without a
(04:59):
middle school in Bartholo, and this is a barrio right
next to Mirasol, all in Lattice still and she finished
eighth grade. And by now at this point in her life,
she was known for her smarts and her beauty. She
was just always described as gorgeous. And if you look
at her picture of when she shootout, she's dressed, she's
(05:20):
so well dressed. She just looks beautiful. I mean, she
looks so cool. Yeah, she's got red LIPSTI gun and
she's just like she's ready to you know. But yeah,
she was known for her beauty. So she won first
place in the annual Queen of the Flowers of may
A beauty contest in Lattice. And even though her dad
was an atheist, her mom was Catholic, and she, along
(05:41):
with her siblings, were all baptized into Catholicism and she
would eventually be super religious as well. When this baptism
happened when she was fourteen, this is where she met
Francisco Mattos Pauli, who she immediately liked and they started
writing each other love letters poetry. This was her her
first boyfriend, and I mean, for this time, secually's not
(06:02):
that bad of an age gap. He was only four
years older than her, making him eighteen and her fourteen. Yeah,
to be worse, yeah, it could be a lot worse pose, Yeah,
And while the two were in love, their families did
not love this union. His family felt like the Lebrons
were too poor and they considered her a hibaa a peasant,
(06:23):
oh and not at their son's level. And her family
was just worried that he was some rich snob and
he was older, and that's why they opposed the relationship.
Out of the two, they have a valid reason, I think,
I agree, Yeah, And they did eventually break up because
Fancisco Marcos Bauli moved out of Lattice and she also
(06:45):
ended up leaving Lattice for San Juan to study sewing
here or she picked back up with her love and
they started seeing each other again. But then she ended
up moving back to Lattice because her dad got super
sick with tubertudosis and she felt like it was her
duty to help her family, so she returned and her
dad was too sick to work. They were forced to
leave the Scienda because again him being the foremant of
(07:09):
the scienda was the reason they had a free house
on the scenda. Right, and this is why I don't
know things like housing, health insurance. I don't know. I
feel like you should be type to employment No. One
hundred percent. And eventually the Scnda owner did provide them
with the new house to live in. And it's like
now they have to depend on the generosity of this
(07:33):
rich person, which luckily he was generous enough to give
them a house. Right, that's rare, so rare. Because he
couldn't work anymore, so she took care of her dad.
She would travel to the next town over to pick
up his medicine. She then diligently gave him his medicine
every seventy minutes for seven days. Wow. Yeah, and she
(07:55):
didn't sleep or eat during these seven days because she
was like, nope, I need to take care of him.
And it took all her attention, but he did sadly
die after the seven days, and so she started helping
her family financially by weaving clothes because she was a
trained seamstress. And it was right after this that her
political ideologies would be shaped. She had already been a
(08:16):
member of the Liberal Party from a very young age,
but she wasn't very involved in politics. She was just
like a member, that's it. She didn't go she didn't
attend any meetings, nothing. But now at eighteen, she had
been working as a seamstress for some time, she was
dating a local engineer, and at this age eighteen, she
witnessed what started as a peaceful protest then turned into
(08:40):
a massacre. Oh no, the Ponte massacre. Oh I was
gonna guess. I was, Yeah, I know. I figured you
wouldn't know, yeah, or you would say that, and the
next nose and yes, this is the Ponte massacre, the
very one, yeah, which we talked about way back in
episode twenty two twenty two. Wow, yeah, long ago. Yeah.
(09:03):
And because we've already covered it, I'm not going to
go into details but just know it was completely horrible.
It was literally like a massacre. There's the reason why
it's called the pont Samasacar. Yeah, it's truly truly horrible.
Go back and listen if you have not listened to
that episode, which I would just assume everyone has at
this point because most people go in order. So this
is the event that radicalized her into believing that the
(09:26):
olin way forward was a free Puerto Rico, and she
began to admire the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, which we
do mention a lot in the Ponts of Massacre. During
all this, she ended up getting pregnant and had her
first baby at twenty one, and like any mother, she
wented to provide for her child, but she realized that
there were no opportunities on the island for her to
(09:48):
do this, especially after separating from her baby's father, so
she left her baby with her mother and, like many
other Puerto Ricans, migrated to New York in search of
a better life to provide for her child. But this
was not easy at all. It was difficult for her
to find a job, especially because she didn't fully understand English.
She found occasional work as a seamstress, but she was
(10:10):
often fired because a lot of her bosses considered her
a rebel. But all she really did was call out
discrimination that she witnessed against Puerto Rican workers. Yeah, so
they just expected you to lay there and take it,
you know. Yeah, And she didn't. She wasn't like that.
Sorry for the crudeness, Sorry for the crudeness. She's tired.
(10:38):
The injustices she saw as a Puerto Rican trying to
make a living in New York further solidified her nationalistic views.
She found the local Puerto Rican Liberation Movement group and
began meeting with them. She also enrolled in classes at
George Rushton College and attended for two years when she
was not at work, and then at twenty three ish,
(10:58):
she married again. She had her second baby, who she
also sent to live with her mom in Puerto Rico.
She also left her husband after a year of marrying
him because she felt like he was oppressing her. He
probably will, I'm on her side, automatically. Automatically, No, right,
you know, there's some schools of thoughts out there that
(11:19):
that believes what I believe. Marriage is inherently oppressive to women,
Like no matter what kind of marriage all marriage. Yeah, yeah,
I can't say I fully disagree. Same And during this
time that we're in nineteen forty three, there was an
(11:40):
even greater migration from Puerto Ricans leaving the island for
New York. And it has a name, the Great Migration.
Oh yeah, fitting fitting name. A lot led to this
great migration. I've talked about this book in our other
Puerto Rico episodes, but Against All Puerto Ricans is a
(12:01):
great book on this. But the very short version on
what led to this great migration is a combination of
the Great Depression, World War Two, and air travel being
more accessible. But again, there was a lot of situations
that led up to a lot of people leaving the island.
We did talk about it also in the Mustard Gas episode.
But one of the only jobs available in Puerto Rico
(12:23):
is the military, something still true today. Perducans joined the
military the most out of any Hispanic or Latino Latin
group because it's one of the only things available. Other
than that there's crime, really like, that's what it seems like. Yeah,
and so this was true back then, so true today.
On top of that, you know, there was an explosion
in jobs in factories and ship docks in the US,
(12:44):
which made it more lucrative than the jobs available in
Puerto Rico, which were also dying down because of like
a lot of reasons. Again that that book talks more
about it. Most of the people leaving were hibaros aka peasants,
the people working in the fields, so that also played
a big role into who was leaving, and wood jobs
where jobs were available, and so Lolita watched us more
(13:08):
and more for people left their homeland only to be
forced into poverty and prejudice in the US, and seeing
all this, she began to work more within the liberation movement.
She became an official member of the Puerto Rican National
Party in nineteen forty six, and she came to develop
a great admiration for Pedro Albiso Campos, the president of
(13:29):
the party, which we did talk a little bit more
about him in the Ponte massacre. There's going to be
a separate episode on him because there's so much there.
I feel like deep admiration isn't even enough force to
cover what she felt of him. It wasn't like, you know, like, oh,
I'm infatuated, like nothing like that. It was like such
a deep admiration of him and his work and what
he was doing. She memorized his biography and like his lectures,
(13:54):
I studied it an insane amount. And again, like one
day I will cover him as a topic and it's
probably gonna end up being like a two or three
partt because he was done so dirty every less really
so dirty. Yeah, so fucked up. What they did to
him make me hate to hear even more. No, it's
it's so bad. Like if you thought it it was bad,
it really I can't even know. It's terrible. You need
(14:17):
to learn about this. Yeah, the book War against Sand
Puerto Ricans covers history really well. I need to read
that book. It's it's I don't want to say good.
I don't think that's the right word. So informative. Yeah, yeah,
importantly it is, truly because the way the book is
written is also it starts out after the US colonizes
(14:41):
Puerto Rico after Spain. It starts out there and talks
about the businesses that are moving in and the money
that's to be made, and in it they weave his
story in throughout the topics that they're talking about. So
it's not like there's one chapter that's mostly dedicated to him.
But then his story is like it goes on throughout
the whole book. As they're talking about the birth control
tr also as they're talking about the bontime massacre, it's
(15:02):
all related back to him. Wow, and telling his story
until the end, and in the very end, Lolita Levron
is mentioned too. But yeah, it's such a good book.
Depressing but again informative important. It's hard when you read
things like that and you're like, I can't say I
had a good time reading it, but I had a time.
(15:23):
I had a lot of time was had, Yeah, truly,
But yeah, I mean, it's such a good book to
read that covers all this stuff in like one place.
All the separate episodes we've done in Puerto Rico are
all in that book. So back to Lolita. She began
to study his ideals memorisis biography, and she showed great
(15:44):
initiative when she joined the party. She brought in new ideas,
even more socialists and more feminist ideas into the group,
and her hard work paid off because she rose through
the party's ranks. She was secretary, then vice president, and
then executive delegate of the New York chapter of the
party and in all this, as this is happening, a
(16:05):
bill was brought to the Puerto Rican Senate. This bill's
purpose was to restrain the rights of independence and nationalist
movements like the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Yeah, the Senate
was controlled by the PPD Bartido popular Democratico and they
approved this bill. It became known as lalais de la
moreasa or the gag Law in English. So you can't
(16:28):
ready tell what the purpose of it was just by
the name. Yeah. It was signed into law on June tenth,
nineteen forty eight, and it worked very similarly to the
Smith Act in the US. And if anyone doesn't recall
this from history, that US history in eleventh grade. That's
when we did US history. Anyone else did. But officially,
the Smith Act is the Alien Registration Act, which set
(16:50):
criminal penalties for advocating for the overthrow of the US
government by force or violence and required all non citizen
adult residents to register with the federal government. And it
pretty much be came the anti Communist Act because it
says all these other words, but in reality it was
what led to the whole McCarthyism and right, right, he's
trying to overthrow the government. Yeah, red scare, this was
(17:12):
all in that right. Overall, two hundred fifteen people were induced.
That's not the right word, indicted, maybe the indicted. Yeah,
they induced, that's induced. That can't be right. Two hundred
and fifteen people were indicted under this law, and most
were communists and socialists, hence the name Anti Communist Act.
(17:35):
It was made to find these people and destroy this
movement because again red scare Russia, blah blah blah. Right,
So now I'm just kidding, go on and now yeah
and now now look at us now for real. Now
back to Puerto Rico. This new law made it a
crime to print, publish, cell exhibit any material intended to
(17:58):
paralyze or destroy the insular government the insular government being
the US, as well as to organize any society, group,
or assembly of people with similar destructive intent. It made
it illegal to display the flag of Puerto Rico. And
I don't know if you, I don't know if anyone
else has been listening to Bad Bunny since the album
released a month and a half. You know it, all
I have been digging about this whole time is Bad
(18:20):
Bunny No, Because saying well, then the album, I mean Yeah,
but you know when he says, and they've done this before,
this is what he's talking about. This law that made
it illegal to waive the Puerto Rican flag, and that's
what this is, the gag law. And so anyone displaying
the Perto Rican flag, anyone found disbeying this law in
(18:40):
any way was subject for subject up to ten years
in prison and like, how can you do this in
Puerto Rico? Like that's ridiculous, right, yeah, also a fine
of up to ten thousand dollars or both. And of
course I don't think I need to say this, but
this is a common tactic. If there's a movement or
riving up their following, and that movement is very stand
(19:03):
up for my rights type thing, the US is going
to make anything associated with this movement illegal and start
arresting people for it, arresting or destroying the movement. Yep,
it's the playbook that they've been doing forever ever. And
so those who didn't agree with this act saw it
for what it was, a repressive law that violated First
Amendment rights of the US Constitution, which is opposed to
(19:25):
guarantee freedom of speech, but for a repressive government addressing
their colonial project. These rights were never meant for them.
These rights were not meant for Puerto Ricans. They just
simply were never meant to apply to them, which is
why they didn't care and why they made this law
in the first place. So Pedro Albiso Campos gave a
(19:45):
speech and manati to explain to Puerto Ricans how this
was a violation of their rights. And on that day,
hundreds and hundreds gathered to hear him, but also to
a block police from arresting him, because he could be
arrested just for doing this, and understandably so oh. The
gag law led to a series of protests over the
next few years, and the Nationalist Party felt like they
had to They had tried to call for a free
(20:08):
Puerto Rico peacefully, but they were being not only ignored,
but persecuted for wanting a free Puerto Rico. And so
now they were like, you know what, No, this is
not the time for peace anymore. Now they were punning
armed revolution. And I mean you, if you are the
subject of a colonial ruling, you have a right to
(20:30):
stand up, you have a right to armed revolution. Like
that's just my that's what I believe, you know, I
know that's what you believe too. I know not a
lot of people fall into that category. I know a
lot of people are like violence is not the answer,
but I'm sorry, if they've tried everything, what is their left? Yeah,
I feel like as a last measure, yes, and generally
I'm a pacifist yeah yeah, not me, no, Yeah, like
(20:57):
we don't want people out here dying, right, but right,
that's where yeah, Yeah, they feel like they have tried
everything that have been under this colonial rule. And if
you like, we're not diving into the disparities that led
them to fuel this, but they're real, they're not these like, oh,
I just want to not be an American colony. Like first,
(21:18):
that's it, right, Yes, yeah, I mean that should go
without saying. Yeah, the exploitation, the disparity between the people
that own the businesses and the workers, there's so much
that we're not going into that. We have got into
one other episodes. Yeah, but there's a reason that they
finally they felt like this is now time for an
armed revolution. They didn't just plan here yeah, out of nowhere, Yeah, exactly,
(21:43):
and so they chose nineteen fifty two for the date
of their armed revolution. There were planned uprisings across all
Puerto Rico. And I don't know if you've heard of it,
but have you heard of the Hayuya uprising? I don't
think so. Okay, this is also going to have to
be its own episode as well as the woman who
led the uprising Blanca Canalists, She's gonna have to be
(22:04):
her own episode. Two wow wow, yeah, let me write
these down. There are no lists already. Actually I don't
know if they are. They might not be another list yet. Anyway,
they will be theren topic. And without getting too much
into it, the US appointed governor called martial law and
the air force bombed Hayuya and Utado. So the US
(22:27):
Air Force bombed these two towns in Puerto Rico because
of these uprisings, including Hayoya and so Hayoya and were
bombed with five hundred pound bombs. And also they were
like rating machine gun fired down on these towns. When
this was reported in the US, President Truman referred to
as an incident between Puerto Ricans. Bullshit. Nope, because the
(22:51):
US Air Force dropped these bombs. Yeah, and so this
is how they were. This uprising was met with literal
force in violence, so honestly to me, naturally, so this
led the Puerto Rican National Party to start planning counterattacks,
(23:14):
and I think that makes sense, honestly. So the first
of these counterattacks was and I don't I don't like,
I don't want to say, I'm like yes to this, right,
but this is what they did. They attempted to assassinate
President Truman. Oh wow, that's bold. Yes, bold first, he said,
(23:36):
planned right, bold first counterattack plan right and police officer
Lesli Kofelt were killed during this attack. This then, this
counter attack then led the US appointed it was an election,
but really it was US appointed government. So the US
appointed pr government arrested thousands that's parted Perdrinkan independence. After
(24:02):
this counter attack, they just went arrested everyone. And police
estimate that during this uprising and all these arrests and stuff,
there was twenty eight killed and fifty injured. Wow. In
the aftermath of all of this, Rolita Lebron, who had
already been corresponding theal letters with Perro Albiso Campos, she
(24:24):
claims to have received a letter from Perro Albiso Campos
in which he declared his intention to order attacks on
three different locations most strategic to the enemy. And at
this point she's thirty four and she had already been
exchanging letters back and forth. Now, there is no proof
of this letter at all anywhere. If it was written,
(24:46):
it was destroyed, because no proof of this letter has
ever existed or been found, except for her saying he
said he was planning, on order or reading an attack
on three different places in the US that were most
strategic to them. Right, So it was never he never
or her to do what she did, right, He just
said he intended to plan an attack on three locations.
(25:07):
But then she went on to say this meant she
was to coordinate one of these attacks, and so she
brought this information to the New York Nationalist Party leadership.
The rest of them two members just agreed with this plan.
They were like, no, this isn't right, but the plan proceeded.
Lolita Lebron said she was meant to be part of
(25:30):
the attack. I think she the order was for her
to coordinate the attack, but not be like a part
of it, but she made herself part of it. Her
being part of it was not an order from federal visa.
But she decided she was going to be the one
to lead the group. So she made the plan. Studying
and looking for possible weaknesses where this attack could take place.
She concluded that instead of three separate attacks that would
(25:53):
happen at the same time, one single attack on the
hause of representatives would be the most effective. So they
chose March first, nineteen fifty four, for this attack. They
chose this day because it fell at the same time
as the inauguration of the Inter American Conference in Kanaka's Venezuela.
This was an annual meeting, so nineteen fifty four was
(26:14):
the tenth annual meeting, and this inter American Conference is
a meeting of theas the Organization of American States come
up one a while, we should have put them on
our being. Actually right, that's what I'm thinking now. And
the goal of this meeting was supposed to be to
(26:35):
discuss economic issues in Latin America, but of course the
US convinced the committee to place an anti communist resolution
as the most important topic because they were worried about
the influence of communism in Latin America. Because Hakowabins had
just been elected in Guatemala. Man, everything is tied together,
everything is tied together. I was typing this like, oh
(26:56):
my god, it's all connected. I feel like the meeting,
my brain just made that connection. The guy from It's
Always Sunning Philadelphia when he's like like, you know, crazy
in front of the board with this all the redliner
or whatever string that, or I feel like a Kendrick
Lamar listener when I'm like connecting everything, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
one or the other, but point out this is literally connected.
(27:18):
So they chose this day because they knew that all
these leaders of Latin America would have been meeting and
they wanted to call attention to Puerto Rico's cause for independence.
And that is the end of part one. We'll pick
up next week with the actual attack that happened on
March first, nineteen fifty four, and the rest of Lolita
Lebrun's life. Again. You can get all of this in
(27:41):
one piece over on patreon dot com right now, and
we hope this was one less historia unknown for you.
Hi, I am Christina and this is Estodia's Unknown. This
episode was supposed to be just one episode, but because
we're going to be on vacation, we decided to split
it into two in a place where it makes sense.
If you are a member of our Patreon, then you
will get this episode all together and we'll be back
next week with the second part. Hi everyone, This is
(00:31):
Carmen and Christina and this is estodia Is Unknown. A
podcast where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's
horrible and deals with tibe topics like criticism, corruption, and genocide,
but more than that, it's also about resistance, power and community.
And I wanted to talk about well, I've been wanting
to talk about who I'm talking about today for a
very long time, and I was like, there's no better
(00:52):
time than March, because one, it's Women's History Month, but
also the events that take place during her story happened
on March first, nineteen fifty four. Her story, not his story,
exactly her story. So yeah, that's why I wanted to
talk about. So what was the year because I just
was thinking her story, Oh wow, Okay, March first, nineteen
(01:14):
fifty four, fifty four Okay, I heard the March first
prize and hear the year. Yeah. So here's my little
thing before I introduce who I'm talking about. Hey, you mystery?
Yeah yeah, Well, because I want to see if you
know who it is after I say this a right,
you know, I don't remember anyone. Okay, go on, I'm
quizzing you, not a quiz, a pop quiz. Can sign
up for a pop quiz. This is what I'm here for.
(01:35):
I'm lean, okay. So on March first, nineteen fifty four,
for Puerto Rican nationalists open fire on the House of
Representatives chamber at the US Capitol. They were led by
Lolita Lebron. Okay, a woman who you do know who
she is? I knew of this, I know her generally,
(01:55):
but in the moment, I'm glad you say her name
because I was not gonna remember her name. Okay. No,
I was always gonna say her name. Okay. I thought
we're gonna be like, go and who is the andle
them who led them to open fire on the House
for person So not the first time that the capital
saw an act of quote unquote terror, because I don't
consider this an active terror. I'm sorry, but Okay, no,
(02:20):
I'm FBI agent that's listening and I'm just kidding. No.
Some and she's a very like polarizing figure. Some people
see her as a hero as right, She's a hero
to me, and others see her as a terrorist. I mean,
I guess it depends on you ask like you just said, yeah,
Like if you're asking me hero yeah, yeah. And even
(02:42):
if people don't agree with what she did, she they
still see her as a heroic figure in Puerto Rican
history because not everyone agrees with what she did. Right
that day, I'm a capital because some people were like, oh,
it's too much violence, but we'll get into it. But yeah,
that's what we're talking about today. Full name Dolores lebron
Lolita lebron So. She was born in Lattis, Puerto Rico,
(03:04):
on November nineteenth, nineteen nineteen, and she was one of
five siblings. Her parents were Gonzalo lebron Bernard and Rafaela
so To Luciano. Her sylings were Aurea, Agusto, Gonzalo Junior
and Julio and they were raised in Ascienda Bezuelas in
the Batrio of Bezuela in Lattice Puerto Rico, and her
father worked as the ascienda's foreman, earning a wopping thirty
(03:28):
dollars a month for this, Oh my god. But because
she was foreman, they were given a small house on
the essenda to live in, and they were also allowed
to grow some food in this little house, and the
Lebron children attended a small community school. But Lorita found
herself unable to keep up with her siblings because she
fell into a gutter when she was small was full
(03:49):
of water, and this resulted in hurricane in pneumonia. Wow. Yeah.
And after that she suffered from years of fatigue, and
she grew up to be a little frail And who
would think that this little frail girl would lead a shootout? Yes?
Well what was a shooting? Yes? Yeah? And maybe because
(04:14):
she couldn't keep up with her siblings anymore, she was
she wasn't out there running a bunch with them in
the neighborhood. It could have been the reason. It strengthened her,
strengthened her want to read and like seeking knowledge and
oh my god, I can't now I can't read, yes,
thank you? And yeah, she just you know, spent time
indoors reading and stuff like that. Eventually, the family moved
(04:37):
from Besuela to Mirasol, a different neighborhood in Lattice. Here,
her father, Gonzalo was the foreman of another ascent that
owned by Emilio via Yes. And in Mirasol, Lolita was
able to receive a better education. She attended the local
public school and then after completing sixth grade, she attended
the Seunda Rural that's her saving in Spanish, without a
(04:59):
middle school in Bartholo, and this is a barrio right
next to Mirasol, all in Lattice still and she finished
eighth grade. And by now at this point in her life,
she was known for her smarts and her beauty. She
was just always described as gorgeous. And if you look
at her picture of when she shootout, she's dressed, she's
(05:20):
so well dressed. She just looks beautiful. I mean, she
looks so cool. Yeah, she's got red LIPSTI gun and
she's just like she's ready to you know. But yeah,
she was known for her beauty. So she won first
place in the annual Queen of the Flowers of may
A beauty contest in Lattice. And even though her dad
was an atheist, her mom was Catholic, and she, along
(05:41):
with her siblings, were all baptized into Catholicism and she
would eventually be super religious as well. When this baptism
happened when she was fourteen, this is where she met
Francisco Mattos Pauli, who she immediately liked and they started
writing each other love letters poetry. This was her her
first boyfriend, and I mean, for this time, secually's not
(06:02):
that bad of an age gap. He was only four
years older than her, making him eighteen and her fourteen. Yeah,
to be worse, yeah, it could be a lot worse pose, Yeah,
And while the two were in love, their families did
not love this union. His family felt like the Lebrons
were too poor and they considered her a hibaa a peasant,
(06:23):
oh and not at their son's level. And her family
was just worried that he was some rich snob and
he was older, and that's why they opposed the relationship.
Out of the two, they have a valid reason, I think,
I agree, Yeah, And they did eventually break up because
Fancisco Marcos Bauli moved out of Lattice and she also
(06:45):
ended up leaving Lattice for San Juan to study sewing
here or she picked back up with her love and
they started seeing each other again. But then she ended
up moving back to Lattice because her dad got super
sick with tubertudosis and she felt like it was her
duty to help her family, so she returned and her
dad was too sick to work. They were forced to
leave the Scienda because again him being the foremant of
(07:09):
the scienda was the reason they had a free house
on the scenda. Right, and this is why I don't
know things like housing, health insurance. I don't know. I
feel like you should be type to employment No. One
hundred percent. And eventually the Scnda owner did provide them
with the new house to live in. And it's like
now they have to depend on the generosity of this
(07:33):
rich person, which luckily he was generous enough to give
them a house. Right, that's rare, so rare. Because he
couldn't work anymore, so she took care of her dad.
She would travel to the next town over to pick
up his medicine. She then diligently gave him his medicine
every seventy minutes for seven days. Wow. Yeah, and she
(07:55):
didn't sleep or eat during these seven days because she
was like, nope, I need to take care of him.
And it took all her attention, but he did sadly
die after the seven days, and so she started helping
her family financially by weaving clothes because she was a
trained seamstress. And it was right after this that her
political ideologies would be shaped. She had already been a
(08:16):
member of the Liberal Party from a very young age,
but she wasn't very involved in politics. She was just
like a member, that's it. She didn't go she didn't
attend any meetings, nothing. But now at eighteen, she had
been working as a seamstress for some time, she was
dating a local engineer, and at this age eighteen, she
witnessed what started as a peaceful protest then turned into
(08:40):
a massacre. Oh no, the Ponte massacre. Oh I was
gonna guess. I was, Yeah, I know. I figured you
wouldn't know, yeah, or you would say that, and the
next nose and yes, this is the Ponte massacre, the
very one, yeah, which we talked about way back in
episode twenty two twenty two. Wow, yeah, long ago. Yeah.
(09:03):
And because we've already covered it, I'm not going to
go into details but just know it was completely horrible.
It was literally like a massacre. There's the reason why
it's called the pont Samasacar. Yeah, it's truly truly horrible.
Go back and listen if you have not listened to
that episode, which I would just assume everyone has at
this point because most people go in order. So this
is the event that radicalized her into believing that the
(09:26):
olin way forward was a free Puerto Rico, and she
began to admire the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, which we
do mention a lot in the Ponts of Massacre. During
all this, she ended up getting pregnant and had her
first baby at twenty one, and like any mother, she
wented to provide for her child, but she realized that
there were no opportunities on the island for her to
(09:48):
do this, especially after separating from her baby's father, so
she left her baby with her mother and, like many
other Puerto Ricans, migrated to New York in search of
a better life to provide for her child. But this
was not easy at all. It was difficult for her
to find a job, especially because she didn't fully understand English.
She found occasional work as a seamstress, but she was
(10:10):
often fired because a lot of her bosses considered her
a rebel. But all she really did was call out
discrimination that she witnessed against Puerto Rican workers. Yeah, so
they just expected you to lay there and take it,
you know. Yeah, And she didn't. She wasn't like that.
Sorry for the crudeness, Sorry for the crudeness. She's tired.
(10:38):
The injustices she saw as a Puerto Rican trying to
make a living in New York further solidified her nationalistic views.
She found the local Puerto Rican Liberation Movement group and
began meeting with them. She also enrolled in classes at
George Rushton College and attended for two years when she
was not at work, and then at twenty three ish,
(10:58):
she married again. She had her second baby, who she
also sent to live with her mom in Puerto Rico.
She also left her husband after a year of marrying
him because she felt like he was oppressing her. He
probably will, I'm on her side, automatically. Automatically, No, right,
you know, there's some schools of thoughts out there that
(11:19):
that believes what I believe. Marriage is inherently oppressive to women,
Like no matter what kind of marriage all marriage. Yeah, yeah,
I can't say I fully disagree. Same And during this
time that we're in nineteen forty three, there was an
(11:40):
even greater migration from Puerto Ricans leaving the island for
New York. And it has a name, the Great Migration.
Oh yeah, fitting fitting name. A lot led to this
great migration. I've talked about this book in our other
Puerto Rico episodes, but Against All Puerto Ricans is a
(12:01):
great book on this. But the very short version on
what led to this great migration is a combination of
the Great Depression, World War Two, and air travel being
more accessible. But again, there was a lot of situations
that led up to a lot of people leaving the island.
We did talk about it also in the Mustard Gas episode.
But one of the only jobs available in Puerto Rico
(12:23):
is the military, something still true today. Perducans joined the
military the most out of any Hispanic or Latino Latin
group because it's one of the only things available. Other
than that there's crime, really like, that's what it seems like. Yeah,
and so this was true back then, so true today.
On top of that, you know, there was an explosion
in jobs in factories and ship docks in the US,
(12:44):
which made it more lucrative than the jobs available in
Puerto Rico, which were also dying down because of like
a lot of reasons. Again that that book talks more
about it. Most of the people leaving were hibaros aka peasants,
the people working in the fields, so that also played
a big role into who was leaving, and wood jobs
where jobs were available, and so Lolita watched us more
(13:08):
and more for people left their homeland only to be
forced into poverty and prejudice in the US, and seeing
all this, she began to work more within the liberation movement.
She became an official member of the Puerto Rican National
Party in nineteen forty six, and she came to develop
a great admiration for Pedro Albiso Campos, the president of
(13:29):
the party, which we did talk a little bit more
about him in the Ponte massacre. There's going to be
a separate episode on him because there's so much there.
I feel like deep admiration isn't even enough force to
cover what she felt of him. It wasn't like, you know, like, oh,
I'm infatuated, like nothing like that. It was like such
a deep admiration of him and his work and what
he was doing. She memorized his biography and like his lectures,
(13:54):
I studied it an insane amount. And again, like one
day I will cover him as a topic and it's
probably gonna end up being like a two or three
partt because he was done so dirty every less really
so dirty. Yeah, so fucked up. What they did to
him make me hate to hear even more. No, it's
it's so bad. Like if you thought it it was bad,
it really I can't even know. It's terrible. You need
(14:17):
to learn about this. Yeah, the book War against Sand
Puerto Ricans covers history really well. I need to read
that book. It's it's I don't want to say good.
I don't think that's the right word. So informative. Yeah, yeah,
importantly it is, truly because the way the book is
written is also it starts out after the US colonizes
(14:41):
Puerto Rico after Spain. It starts out there and talks
about the businesses that are moving in and the money
that's to be made, and in it they weave his
story in throughout the topics that they're talking about. So
it's not like there's one chapter that's mostly dedicated to him.
But then his story is like it goes on throughout
the whole book. As they're talking about the birth control
tr also as they're talking about the bontime massacre, it's
(15:02):
all related back to him. Wow, and telling his story
until the end, and in the very end, Lolita Levron
is mentioned too. But yeah, it's such a good book.
Depressing but again informative important. It's hard when you read
things like that and you're like, I can't say I
had a good time reading it, but I had a time.
(15:23):
I had a lot of time was had, Yeah, truly,
But yeah, I mean, it's such a good book to
read that covers all this stuff in like one place.
All the separate episodes we've done in Puerto Rico are
all in that book. So back to Lolita. She began
to study his ideals memorisis biography, and she showed great
(15:44):
initiative when she joined the party. She brought in new ideas,
even more socialists and more feminist ideas into the group,
and her hard work paid off because she rose through
the party's ranks. She was secretary, then vice president, and
then executive delegate of the New York chapter of the
party and in all this, as this is happening, a
(16:05):
bill was brought to the Puerto Rican Senate. This bill's
purpose was to restrain the rights of independence and nationalist
movements like the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Yeah, the Senate
was controlled by the PPD Bartido popular Democratico and they
approved this bill. It became known as lalais de la
moreasa or the gag Law in English. So you can't
(16:28):
ready tell what the purpose of it was just by
the name. Yeah. It was signed into law on June tenth,
nineteen forty eight, and it worked very similarly to the
Smith Act in the US. And if anyone doesn't recall
this from history, that US history in eleventh grade. That's
when we did US history. Anyone else did. But officially,
the Smith Act is the Alien Registration Act, which set
(16:50):
criminal penalties for advocating for the overthrow of the US
government by force or violence and required all non citizen
adult residents to register with the federal government. And it
pretty much be came the anti Communist Act because it
says all these other words, but in reality it was
what led to the whole McCarthyism and right, right, he's
trying to overthrow the government. Yeah, red scare, this was
(17:12):
all in that right. Overall, two hundred fifteen people were induced.
That's not the right word, indicted, maybe the indicted. Yeah,
they induced, that's induced. That can't be right. Two hundred
and fifteen people were indicted under this law, and most
were communists and socialists, hence the name Anti Communist Act.
(17:35):
It was made to find these people and destroy this
movement because again red scare Russia, blah blah blah. Right,
So now I'm just kidding, go on and now yeah
and now now look at us now for real. Now
back to Puerto Rico. This new law made it a
crime to print, publish, cell exhibit any material intended to
(17:58):
paralyze or destroy the insular government the insular government being
the US, as well as to organize any society, group,
or assembly of people with similar destructive intent. It made
it illegal to display the flag of Puerto Rico. And
I don't know if you, I don't know if anyone
else has been listening to Bad Bunny since the album
released a month and a half. You know it, all
I have been digging about this whole time is Bad
(18:20):
Bunny No, Because saying well, then the album, I mean Yeah,
but you know when he says, and they've done this before,
this is what he's talking about. This law that made
it illegal to waive the Puerto Rican flag, and that's
what this is, the gag law. And so anyone displaying
the Perto Rican flag, anyone found disbeying this law in
(18:40):
any way was subject for subject up to ten years
in prison and like, how can you do this in
Puerto Rico? Like that's ridiculous, right, yeah, also a fine
of up to ten thousand dollars or both. And of
course I don't think I need to say this, but
this is a common tactic. If there's a movement or
riving up their following, and that movement is very stand
(19:03):
up for my rights type thing, the US is going
to make anything associated with this movement illegal and start
arresting people for it, arresting or destroying the movement. Yep,
it's the playbook that they've been doing forever ever. And
so those who didn't agree with this act saw it
for what it was, a repressive law that violated First
Amendment rights of the US Constitution, which is opposed to
(19:25):
guarantee freedom of speech, but for a repressive government addressing
their colonial project. These rights were never meant for them.
These rights were not meant for Puerto Ricans. They just
simply were never meant to apply to them, which is
why they didn't care and why they made this law
in the first place. So Pedro Albiso Campos gave a
(19:45):
speech and manati to explain to Puerto Ricans how this
was a violation of their rights. And on that day,
hundreds and hundreds gathered to hear him, but also to
a block police from arresting him, because he could be
arrested just for doing this, and understandably so oh. The
gag law led to a series of protests over the
next few years, and the Nationalist Party felt like they
had to They had tried to call for a free
(20:08):
Puerto Rico peacefully, but they were being not only ignored,
but persecuted for wanting a free Puerto Rico. And so
now they were like, you know what, No, this is
not the time for peace anymore. Now they were punning
armed revolution. And I mean you, if you are the
subject of a colonial ruling, you have a right to
(20:30):
stand up, you have a right to armed revolution. Like
that's just my that's what I believe, you know, I
know that's what you believe too. I know not a
lot of people fall into that category. I know a
lot of people are like violence is not the answer,
but I'm sorry, if they've tried everything, what is their left? Yeah,
I feel like as a last measure, yes, and generally
I'm a pacifist yeah yeah, not me, no, Yeah, like
(20:57):
we don't want people out here dying, right, but right,
that's where yeah, Yeah, they feel like they have tried
everything that have been under this colonial rule. And if
you like, we're not diving into the disparities that led
them to fuel this, but they're real, they're not these like, oh,
I just want to not be an American colony. Like first,
(21:18):
that's it, right, Yes, yeah, I mean that should go
without saying. Yeah, the exploitation, the disparity between the people
that own the businesses and the workers, there's so much
that we're not going into that. We have got into
one other episodes. Yeah, but there's a reason that they
finally they felt like this is now time for an
armed revolution. They didn't just plan here yeah, out of nowhere, Yeah, exactly,
(21:43):
and so they chose nineteen fifty two for the date
of their armed revolution. There were planned uprisings across all
Puerto Rico. And I don't know if you've heard of it,
but have you heard of the Hayuya uprising? I don't
think so. Okay, this is also going to have to
be its own episode as well as the woman who
led the uprising Blanca Canalists, She's gonna have to be
(22:04):
her own episode. Two wow wow, yeah, let me write
these down. There are no lists already. Actually I don't
know if they are. They might not be another list yet. Anyway,
they will be theren topic. And without getting too much
into it, the US appointed governor called martial law and
the air force bombed Hayuya and Utado. So the US
(22:27):
Air Force bombed these two towns in Puerto Rico because
of these uprisings, including Hayoya and so Hayoya and were
bombed with five hundred pound bombs. And also they were
like rating machine gun fired down on these towns. When
this was reported in the US, President Truman referred to
as an incident between Puerto Ricans. Bullshit. Nope, because the
(22:51):
US Air Force dropped these bombs. Yeah, and so this
is how they were. This uprising was met with literal
force in violence, so honestly to me, naturally, so this
led the Puerto Rican National Party to start planning counterattacks,
(23:14):
and I think that makes sense, honestly. So the first
of these counterattacks was and I don't I don't like,
I don't want to say, I'm like yes to this, right,
but this is what they did. They attempted to assassinate
President Truman. Oh wow, that's bold. Yes, bold first, he said,
(23:36):
planned right, bold first counterattack plan right and police officer
Lesli Kofelt were killed during this attack. This then, this
counter attack then led the US appointed it was an election,
but really it was US appointed government. So the US
appointed pr government arrested thousands that's parted Perdrinkan independence. After
(24:02):
this counter attack, they just went arrested everyone. And police
estimate that during this uprising and all these arrests and stuff,
there was twenty eight killed and fifty injured. Wow. In
the aftermath of all of this, Rolita Lebron, who had
already been corresponding theal letters with Perro Albiso Campos, she
(24:24):
claims to have received a letter from Perro Albiso Campos
in which he declared his intention to order attacks on
three different locations most strategic to the enemy. And at
this point she's thirty four and she had already been
exchanging letters back and forth. Now, there is no proof
of this letter at all anywhere. If it was written,
(24:46):
it was destroyed, because no proof of this letter has
ever existed or been found, except for her saying he
said he was planning, on order or reading an attack
on three different places in the US that were most
strategic to them. Right, So it was never he never
or her to do what she did, right, He just
said he intended to plan an attack on three locations.
(25:07):
But then she went on to say this meant she
was to coordinate one of these attacks, and so she
brought this information to the New York Nationalist Party leadership.
The rest of them two members just agreed with this plan.
They were like, no, this isn't right, but the plan proceeded.
Lolita Lebron said she was meant to be part of
(25:30):
the attack. I think she the order was for her
to coordinate the attack, but not be like a part
of it, but she made herself part of it. Her
being part of it was not an order from federal visa.
But she decided she was going to be the one
to lead the group. So she made the plan. Studying
and looking for possible weaknesses where this attack could take place.
She concluded that instead of three separate attacks that would
(25:53):
happen at the same time, one single attack on the
hause of representatives would be the most effective. So they
chose March first, nineteen fifty four, for this attack. They
chose this day because it fell at the same time
as the inauguration of the Inter American Conference in Kanaka's Venezuela.
This was an annual meeting, so nineteen fifty four was
(26:14):
the tenth annual meeting, and this inter American Conference is
a meeting of theas the Organization of American States come
up one a while, we should have put them on
our being. Actually right, that's what I'm thinking now. And
the goal of this meeting was supposed to be to
(26:35):
discuss economic issues in Latin America, but of course the
US convinced the committee to place an anti communist resolution
as the most important topic because they were worried about
the influence of communism in Latin America. Because Hakowabins had
just been elected in Guatemala. Man, everything is tied together,
everything is tied together. I was typing this like, oh
(26:56):
my god, it's all connected. I feel like the meeting,
my brain just made that connection. The guy from It's
Always Sunning Philadelphia when he's like like, you know, crazy
in front of the board with this all the redliner
or whatever string that, or I feel like a Kendrick
Lamar listener when I'm like connecting everything, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
one or the other, but point out this is literally connected.
(27:18):
So they chose this day because they knew that all
these leaders of Latin America would have been meeting and
they wanted to call attention to Puerto Rico's cause for independence.
And that is the end of part one. We'll pick
up next week with the actual attack that happened on
March first, nineteen fifty four, and the rest of Lolita
Lebrun's life. Again. You can get all of this in
(27:41):
one piece over on patreon dot com right now, and
we hope this was one less historia unknown for you.
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