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Peter Edion.Warped Mind in Puerto RicoWASHINGTON lt;NKA» Thecrazy attempted assassination of President Truman is wrapped up in the warped Iift' story of Pedro Albizu Campos He is head of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and self-styled President of the Repub* lice of Puerto Rico. A note signed by Pedro Albizu Campos telling him to assume leadership of the movement in the U. S was found on thi' body of Griselo Torresola. the assassin who was shot down by police on Blair House steps.Pedro Albizu Campos was born in Ponce. Puerto Rico, in 1891. His mother, named Albizu. was Negress The father was white or predominantly white and was a man of some means For a number of years he refused to allow the boy to go by the name of Campos Pedro j Albizu added it himself when he grew upThe boy was unusually bright Though he earned a few centavos for his mother as a shoe shine boy , at a time when few Puerto Ricans could afford shoes, he got an cduca-1 tion. The mayor of Ponce took an interest in him and sent him to ' University of Vermont Later he went to Harvard. Racial considerations never bothered him in the North at these colleges.When World War I broke out. Pedro Albizu Campos became imbued with ati idea. Psychoanalists today would probably call it a fixation He wanted to fight Germans and go kill the KaiserHe enlisted in the U. S Army, v lt;nt to officers’ training camp and came out a first lieutenant. The Army, however, classed him as colored or muUatn Instead of sending him to Germany, he was sent to Panama with a labor battalion He served out the war in command of colored troops that dug ditches.Life Took Bad Twist from Here.That experience is believed to have warped the man's whole life From the standpoint of heredity, a east* could be made that there was an unstable element in his parentage. and that was responsible Anyway. Pedro Albizu Campos was given an honorable discharge at the end of the war He went back to Harvard and won his law degree in 1921 That year he married a Peruvian woman and went back to Puerto Rico to live. They now ha\c three childrenPolities is a major sport in Puerto Rico Pedro Albizu Cam|Hs soon got into politico He joined the Union Party. He left it abruptly because he thought its stand on independence loo weak Next year he organized his own Nationalist Party as a radical croup, favoring complete independence from the U. S for Puerto Rico.He worked somewhat futilcly in this party for five years Then for (wo yeai froti 1087 I i 1839 latent red Latin America to preach in*1 dependence. In 198b he was proclaimed President of the party. In the 1982 elections hi party got only 5.000 votes out of 384.IKH1 cast.lie became involved in half a dozen violent uprisings lie led a march lt;n the San Juan capital in April. 1982. to force the Senate to adopt his Nationalist Party flag as the emblem of Puerto Rico The stairs collapsed from the weight of the mob and many were injured.Ileld As Rebel Against l\ S.In April. 1936. Pedro Albizu Campos was arrested and charged with conspiracy to overthrow the gov-mont. recruit soldiers and incite lt;11 ion against the United States was convicted in July, appealed, tcneed again in June. 1987 One his defense attorneys was Vito rcantonio. New York congress-ti, then counsel for the Workers’ icnsc League.n this icriod there were threemore Nationalist Party acts of violence in Puerto Rico. U. S. Judge Robert A. Cooper, who tried Albizu Campos in district court at San Juan, narrowly escaped assassination. Then there was a massacre at Ponce, following a parade, in which 21 were killed and 100 wounded. Finally there was an attempt to assassinate Gov. Blanton Winship.Albizu Campos served ^ix years of a ten-year sentence in the U. S. prison at Atlanta. Ga. Paroled in 1948. he went to New York, where' he immediately made contact with Marcantonio and F.arl Browder.Because he was on parole. Albizu Campos had to stay in the U. .S. until 1947 When he returned to Puerto Rico, he was greeted with a big reception and hi' resumed his position as head of the Nationalist Party. For the last throe years he has been active in attacks on the United Stales, resistance to the draft, and similar activities.Gov. Munoz Marin of Puerto Rico estimates Nationalist Party strength at 400 in Puerto Rico, perhaps more than that in New York. The leaders arc all fanatics and their outbreaks have long been anticipated though not exactly in the form of an attempted assassination of the U. S. 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Newspaper Details
Rhinelander Daily News and the New North
Rhinelander, Wisconsin, US
Wed, Nov 08, 1950
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Jacqueline D.
USA 23 Mar 2024
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