Oscar Collazo (January 20, 1914 – February 21, 1994) was a Puerto Rican militant of the Nationalist Party. He and Griselio Torresola were responsible for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Harry S. Truman in Washington, D.C. on November 1, 1950. He had been living in New York City after growing up in Puerto Rico.

Collazo was convicted and sentenced to death, but Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. In 1979, Collazo's sentence was further commuted to time served by President Jimmy Carter. He was paroled and allowed to return to Puerto Rico.

Background

Oscar Collazo López was born in what is now Florida, Puerto Rico. In 1920, Collazo's father died and his mother sent him to live with his brother in Jayuya. His brother was a member of the Liberal Party which had independence beliefs. When Collazo was 14 years old, he participated in a student demonstration, which the government had made illegal, commemorating the birth of José de Diego, a known advocate for Puerto Rican independence who had died two years before.

Career

Puerto Rico

In 1932, when Collazo was 18 years old, he participated in another demonstration commemorating José de Diego. This time the main speaker was Pedro Albizu Campos, the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. That day Collazo was so impressed by Albizu Campos' leadership that he joined the Nationalist Party and devoted himself to it.

New York

In 1941, Collazo moved to New York City, which had a large Puerto Rican community. There he met and married Rosa Cortez, a divorcee. The couple had a total of three daughters from previous marriages: Rosa with two and Collazo with one. He worked in a metal polishing factory and led a normal family life.

Truman assassination attempt

On October 30, 1950, Torresola and Collazo learned that the Jayuya Uprising in Puerto Rico, led by the nationalist leader Blanca Canales, had failed. Torresola's sister had been wounded and his brother Elio was arrested. Believing they had to do something for their cause, Collazo and Torresola decided to assassinate President Harry S. Truman, in order to bring world attention to the need for independence in Puerto Rico.

In prison, Collazo was asked why he had targeted Truman, who was in favor of self-determination for Puerto Rico and who had appointed the first native-born Puerto Rican governor. Collazo replied that he had nothing against Truman, saying that he was "a symbol of the system. You don't attack the man, you attack the system." Collazo said he had been devoted to the Nationalist Party since 1932.

Collazo's trial was set for February 26, 1951. In 1952, Collazo was convicted and sentenced to death. In 1952, his attorney Abraham Unger petitioned for the commutation of Collazo’s life sentence for his attempted assassination of Truman. President Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. He was sent to the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas.

Second presidential commutation

On September 6, 1979, President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence to time served, after Collazo had spent 29 years in prison. President Carter also pardoned Collazo's fellow Nationalists: Irvin Flores, Rafael Cancel Miranda, and Lolita Lebrón, convicted in the 1954 United States Capitol shooting in which five members of the House of Representatives were wounded by gunfire. Collazo had been eligible for parole since April 1966, and Lebron since July 1969. Cancel Miranda and Flores became eligible for parole in July 1979, but none had applied for parole because of their political beliefs. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti advocated to Carter for the commutations because the prisoners had spent "an unusually long time in prison" and "no legitimate deterrent or correctional purpose" was served by keeping them imprisoned, for "humane considerations," and because there was "little substantial risk" of their release resulting in further criminal or terrorist activity. Upon their return to Puerto Rico, these Nationalists were received as heroes by their supporters and independence groups. Governor of Puerto Rico Carlos Romero Barceló publicly opposed the pardons, stating that they would encourage terrorism and undermine public safety.

Collazo's wife, Rosa, had been arrested at the time of the assassination attempt by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on suspicion of having conspired with her husband. She spent eight months in federal prison.

Oscar and Rosa Collazo eventually were divorced. She continued to actively participate in Puerto Rico's independence movement. In 1984 a commemoration for her independence activities was held in the Bar Association Building. She was also given recognition for her efforts towards the commutation of her ex-husband's death sentence. Rosa Collazo, who died in May 1988, lived the last years of her life by the side of her daughter Lydia Collazo Cortez.

Oscar Collazo continued to participate in activities related to the independence movement. On February 21, 1994, he died of a stroke in Vega Baja, having passed his 80th birthday by just over a month.

See also

  • Oscar López Rivera
  • Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s
  • List of Puerto Ricans
  • List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States

Notes

References

  • Voices of Independence
  • Antonio Gil de Lamadrid Navarro, Los Indomitos
  • Oscar Collazo, Oscar Collazo
  • Jonah Raskin, Oscar Collazo: Portrait of a Puerto Rican Patriot (New York: New York Committee to Free the Puerto Rican Nationalist Prisoners, 1978).
  • Stephen Hunter and John Bainbridge, Jr., American Gunfight: The Plot To Kill Harry Truman - And The Shoot-Out That Stopped It (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005).
  • "War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony"; Author: Nelson Antonio Denis; Publisher: Nation Books (April 7, 2015); .