Pedro Albizu Campos

Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos (September 12, 1891 – April 21, 1965) born in Tenerias Village in Ponce, Puerto Rico was the son of Alejandro Albizu and Juana Campos. He was also the nephew of Juan Morel Campos, one of Puerto Rico's greatest composers of danzas. Albizu was the leader and president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and avid advocate of Puerto Rican independence from the United States by what ever means necessary. Albizu felt that Puerto Rico deserved the same right as the United States and other countries had to fight for independence.

Nationalist Campaign

In 1919, Jose Coll y Cuchi, a member of the Union Party, felt that the party wasn't doing enough for the cause of Puerto Rico and he and some followers departed from the party and formed the Nationalist Association of Puerto Rico in San Juan. During that time there were two other organizations that were pro-independence, they were the Nationalist Youth and the Independence Association. On September 17, 1922, the three political oraganizations joined forces and formed the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Jose Coll y Cuchi was elected president of the party.

Related Topics:
1919 - Jose Coll y Cuchi - San Juan - September 17 - 1922

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In 1922 Albizu married Dr. Laura Meneses, a Peruvian whom he had met at Harvard University. Two years later in 1924 he joined the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico and was elected vice president. In 1927, Albizu travels to Santo Domingo, Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, seeking solidarity for the Puerto Rican Independence movement.

Related Topics:
1922 - Laura Meneses - Peruvian - Harvard University - 1924 - Nationalist Party - Puerto Rico - 1927 - Santo Domingo - Haiti - Cuba - Mexico - Panama - Peru - Venezuela - Puerto Rican Independence

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In 1930, there were some disagreements between Coll y Cuchi and Campos as to how the party should be run. As a result Coll y Cuchi abandoned the party and some of his followers returned to the Union Party. On May 11, 1930, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos was elected president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and formed the first Women's Nationalist Committee, in the island municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

Related Topics:
1930 - May 11 - Vieques - Puerto Rico

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In 1932 Albizu publishes a manuscript in which he exposes Doctor Cornelius P. Rhoades. In the manuscript the doctor admits to killing Puerto Rican patients and injecting many with cancer cells as part of a medical experimentation conducted in San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital for the Rockefeller Institute. This letter revealed the racist vision that some Americans harbored toward people of color.

Related Topics:
1932 - Cornelius P. Rhoades - San Juan - Rockefeller Institute

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The Nationalist Party obtained poor results in the 1932 election, but continued with their campaign to teach and unite the people behind a free Puerto Rico. At the same time, continued repression from the United States against Puerto Rican independence was now met with armed resistance.

Related Topics:
Nationalist - 1932 - Puerto Rican independence

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In 1934 Albizu represented sugar cane workers as a lawyer against the U.S. sugar and utilities monopolies.

Related Topics:
1934 - Sugar cane - Lawyer

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In 1935, four Nationalists were killed by the police under the command of Colonel E. Francis Riggs, the incident became known as the Rio Piedras Massacre. The following year in 1936, nationalists Hiram Rosado and Elias Beauchamp assassinated Colonel Riggs. They were arrested, and summarily executed without a trial at the police headquarters in San Juan. Pedro Albizu Campos proclaimed them heroes.

Related Topics:
1935 - Police - E. Francis Riggs - Rio Piedras Massacre - 1936 - Hiram Rosado - Elias Beauchamp - Pedro Albizu Campos

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San Juan Federal Court ordered the arrest of Pedro Albizu Campos and several other Nationalists for "seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. Government in Puerto Rico." A jury of seven Puerto Rican and five Americans voted 7 to 5 not guilty. Judge Cooper called for a new jury, this time with ten Americans and two Puerto Ricans and a guilty verdict was achieved. In 1937, a group of lawyers, including a young Gilberto Concepcion de Gracia tried in vain to defend the Nationalists but, the Boston court of appeals, which holds jurisdiction over federal matters in Puerto Rico, upheld the verdict. Pedro Albizu Campos along with other Nationalist leaders were sent to the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. On March 21, a protest march was held in Ponce in which police opened fire on the crowd. Twenty-one unarmed marchers and bystanders as well as two policeman were killed, and 200 others wounded in what has become known as the Ponce Massacre. In 1947 Albizu returned to Puerto Rico and it was believed that he began preparing, along with other members of the Nationalist Party, an armed struggle against the proposed plans to change Puerto Rico's political status into a commonwealth of the United States.

Related Topics:
Pedro Albizu Campos - Conspiracy - Puerto Rico - 1937 - Gilberto Concepcion de Gracia - Boston - Atlanta - Georgia - March 21 - Ponce - Police - Ponce Massacre - 1947 - Commonwealth

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Pedro Albizu Campos would be jailed again after the revolt of 1950 when a group of Puerto Rican nationalists staged a revolt in the island, known as The Jayuya Uprising (El Grito de Jayuya) and which an attack on La Fortaleza (the Puerto Rican governor's mansion) and Blair House, by nationalist Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, where president Harry S. Truman was staying while the White House was being renovated. During the attack on the president, Torresola and policeman, Private Leslie Coffelt, were killed. Pedro Albizu Campos was arrested at his home after a brief shoot out with the police. Subsequently 3,000 independence supporters were arrested. In 1951 Pedro Albizu Campos was jailed and sentenced to eighty years in prison.

Related Topics:
Pedro Albizu Campos - 1950 - Nationalists - The Jayuya Uprising - La Fortaleza - Blair House - Oscar Collazo - Griselio Torresola - Harry S. Truman - White House - 1951

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Albizu was pardoned in 1953 by then governor Luis Muñoz Marín but the pardon was revoked the following year after the 1954 nationalist attack of the United States House of Representatives, when four Puerto Rican Nationalist, led by Lolita Lebron opened fire from the gallery of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.. Some members of Congress were wounded, one seriously; but no one was killed. The shooters did not resist arrest, claiming the action was to attract the world's attention to the US military occupation of Puerto Rico. Albizu refused to allow the police to enter his home in San Juan. A shootout occurred but he was later placed into custody in an unconscious state and jailed again at La Princesa in San Juan.

Related Topics:
1953 - Luis Muñoz Marín - 1954 - United States - House of Representatives - Lolita Lebron - Washington D.C. - San Juan

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While in prison, Pedro Albizu Campos' health deteriorated. In 1956, he suffers a stroke in prison and was transferred to San Juan's Presbyterian Hospital under police guard. He alleged that he was the subject of human radiation experiments in prison. Officials suggested that Albizu was insane although others who attended him believe that burns on his skin where consistent with radiation exposure. On November, 1964 Pedro Albizu Campos was again pardoned by outgoing governor Luis Muñoz Marín. Pedro Albizu Campos died on April 21, 1965.

Related Topics:
Pedro Albizu Campos - 1956 - Radiation - 1964 - Luis Muñoz Marín - April 21 - 1965

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In 1994, under the administration of President Bill Clinton the United States Department of Energy disclosed that human radiation experimentation was conducted without consent on prisoners during the 1950's-1970's. It is still unclear if Pedro Albizu Campos was among the subjects of such experimentation.

Related Topics:
1994 - Bill Clinton - United States - Department of Energy - Pedro Albizu Campos

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