Margaret M. Power - Solidarity across the Americas: The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and Anti-imperialism

SOLIDARITY ACROSS THE AMERICAS

Margaret M. Power

Solidarity
ACROSS THE AMERICAS

THE
PUERTO RICAN
NATIONALIST PARTY
AND
ANTI-IMPERIALISM

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS

Chapel Hill

2023 The University of North Carolina Press

All rights reserved

Set in Quadraat, TheSans, and Geogrotesque typefaces

by Jamie McKee, MacKey Composition

Manufactured in the United States of America

Cover illustrations: Top: U.S. Capitol Police detain Lolita Lebrn, Rafael Cancel Miranda, and Andrs Figueroa Cordero on March 1, 1954, courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ds-02972. Bottom and background: West India Islands and Central America, map, by Keith Johnston, 1912, courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Power, Margaret, 1953 author.

Title: Solidarity across the Americas : the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and anti-imperialism / Margaret M. Power.

Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022045661 | ISBN 9781469674049 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469674056 (paperback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781469674063 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Partido Nacionalista (P.R.)History. | NationalismPuerto RicoHistory. | Puerto RicoHistoryAutonomy and independence movements. | Puerto RicoPolitics and government20th century.

Classification: LCC JL1059.A54 P68 2023 | DDC 320.54097295dc23/eng/20221107

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022045661

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

MAPS

GRAPHS

TABLE

ABBREVIATIONS

SOLIDARITY ACROSS THE AMERICAS

INTRODUCTION

Lolita Lebrn and her three Partido Nacionalista Puertorriqueo (PNPR, Puerto Rican Nationalist Party) comrades, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andrs Figueroa Cordero, and Irvin Flores, took the train from New York City to Washington, D.C., on the morning of March 1, 1954. From Union Station, they walked through the rain to the U.S. Capitol. Although the three men showed some hesitation, Lolita urged them on and, when it appeared they were reluctant to continue, said, I will go alone then.

Once inside, they climbed the stairs to the spectators gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives and entered the chamber. Lolita gave the order to carry out the attack. She then whipped her pistol and the Puerto Rican flag out of her purse. As she unfurled the flag she shouted, Viva Puerto Rico Libre! and fired several shots at the rotunda. Her comrades fired at the congressmen below, wounding five congressmen, none of whom died. Lolita, Rafael, Andres, and Irvin were all arrested that day and subsequently tried and convicted of assault with intent to kill and assaults with a deadly weapon. They were all found guilty. The men received sentences of twenty-five to seventy-five years. Lolita was sentenced to sixteen years and eight months to fifty years.

At first, superficial glance, the Nationalists attack on Congress in 1954 might spark comparisons with the January 6, 2021, assault by right-wing supporters of former president Donald Trump. Both involved armed incursions into the Capitol, but that is all they had in common. The four Nationalists had no intention of overthrowing the U.S. government; nor did they aim to murder congressmen and impose a president who had recently lost an election. Because their goal was to bring world attention to Puerto Ricos status as a U.S. colony, their action is best described as armed propaganda. Another difference is the punishment each group received. The Nationalists sentences received were astronomically higher than the pitifully lenient sentences given so far to the attackers on January 6. One significant distinction is that the Puerto Rican Nationalists sought to end U.S. colonialism and establish an independent homeland while the attackers of January 6 sought to enforce racist and authoritarian rule in theirs.