Lolita Lebron: Part One

0:07 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 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 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 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?

1:23 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. 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, 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, I'm FBI agent that's listening and I'm just kidding. No.

2:25 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 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, 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 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 of water, and this resulted in hurricane in pneumonia. Wow. Yeah.

3:54 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 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 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 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 so well dressed. She just looks beautiful. I mean, she looks so cool. Yeah, she's got red LIPSTI gun and

5:25 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 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 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, 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.

6:33 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 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 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 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.

7:44 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 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 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 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.

9:03 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 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 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.

10:07 She found occasional work as a seamstress, but she was 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. 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, she married again. She had her second baby, who she also sent to live with her mom in Puerto Rico.

11:04 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 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 even greater migration from Puerto Ricans leaving the island for New York. And it has a name, the Great Migration.

11:48 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 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 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.

12:39 On top of that, you know, there was an explosion in jobs in factories and ship docks in the US, 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 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 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.

13:36 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, 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 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.

14:26 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 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 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.

15:12 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. 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 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 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 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

16:43 when we did US history. Anyone else did. But officially, the Smith Act is the Alien Registration Act, which set 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 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 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 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 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 up for my rights type thing, the US is going

19:06 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 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 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 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 stand up, you have a right to armed revolution. Like that's just my that's what I believe, you know, I

20:36 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 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, 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, 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 her own episode. Two wow wow, yeah, let me write

22:08 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 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 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, 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, planned right, bold first counterattack plan right and police officer

23:44 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 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 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, 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 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.

25:49 She concluded that instead of three separate attacks that would 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 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 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 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 one piece over on patreon dot com right now, and we hope this was one less historia unknown for you.