Who is Dr. PEDRO ALBIZU CAMPOS?

[Hombre-cuidad]

Excerpts from latino profiles at

http://www.geocities.com/wazzzzz_aaa...oprofiles.html
To be gone Sunday and Luis Munoz Marin will take the place!

Pedro Albizu Campos was thought to be one of the most influental man of the Puerto Rican Independence movement from the United States of America. Although used very violent means to try to accomplish his goal and the goals of millions on the island, and even though many don't comply to his views of how to attaining Independence, but he is considered by many a National Hero. Born on September 12, 1891 in barrio( a type of town district)Machuelo Abajo, in Puerto Rico's now second largest city, Ponce. His parents, Alejandro and Juliana dies when he was at a young age. He was an extremly intelligent individual that came from a poor family, he later recieved a scholorship to attend the University of Vermont where he recieved a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Engineering and then atteneded Harvard University in 1915. Through all these years at Universities he learned and spoke seven languages. His time at his education was soon disrupted in 1917, when World War 1 sparked the USA, and Puerto Ricans were now given American Citezenship, enabling us to fight for USA wars.

Pedro joined the army and experienced much racism, for not only his Puerto Rican heritage, but he showed that he was also of African Ancestry. Even though in segregated units, he rose to the rank of First Leutienant. These years of racism and knowledge of battle sparked his knolwdege and anger toward the USA and of War tactics that would later help him to fight for Independence through violent means. In 1918, when he returened to Puerto Rico he finished his Law and Political studies in 1921. In 1922, he married Laura Meneses, who he had three children with, Rosa, Pedro, and Laura. In 1925 he joined the Nationalist party, which he first became Vice-President of, then President in 1930. For a total of 25 years he will spent through the years in prison for crimes ranging for making Nationlist Speeches, violating the gag law or la mordoza, (which made it illegal to show the now official Puerto Rican flag or make any speeches supporting Independence) to trying to overthrow the USA government in the USA. The USA did do many things that has sparked violent and non-violent movements in Puerto Rico, like a Massacre of the Nationlist Party who marched on March 21st for the Anniversary of the abolotion of slavery, but the Military Appointed Governor, General Blanton Winship forced the Mayor of Ponce to forfeit his first acceptance permit for the rally, but the Nationlist Party marched anyway to express their freedom and heritage, all dressed in white. The Governor sent troops to the rally and in minutes killed 19 people and wounding 200 in a Massacre, and most were just young people, including a 7 year old girl who was killed while trying to escape into a church, and ALL were unarmed. This benevolent act is now called La Mascare De Ponce, the Ponce Massacre.

Don Pedro or El Maestro as he was called, has ordered or been involved in trying to assassinate the former USA President, Harry S Truman in 1950, ordering the attack of four congressman in 1954. A Revolution in the town of Jayuya in 1950, which spread all Puerto Rico in cities like Arecibo,Utuado, and Mayaguez and destroyed many of these cities from USA air bombarment. Ordering the assassination of the first elected Governor, Luis Munoz Marin, whom wanted to pardon him from jail until that incident. In the end, he unucessfully did not attain independence for his country. He war tortured while at his last sentence in jail with adiation experiments and released becausem he was dying and eventually did die on April, 21, 1965 and 3 days later the University of Havana gave him an honorary docotorine of Polictical Science. He is remembered by thousands as a patriot, and by some as a fanatic. But however your eyes might evaluate him, there is one fact that all Puerto Ricans have to recognize, that he fought for the islands Independence, but not for self greed, with his extreme intelligence he could of have been rich, but instead he decicated his life for his country so that it could be free to express its culture and self indentity as a NATION, not a Colony.

Para El Maestro!

[BoricuaNation]

The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party of New York
El Partido Nationalista de Puerto Rico, Junta de Nueva York

The Puerto Rican Nationalist Youth of New York
Juventud Nacionalista Puertorriqueña de Nueva York

El nacionalismo es una escuela de honor y de valor
Nationalism is a school of honor and valor
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

Don Pedro Albizu Campos

1891 – 1965

La gloria no se escribe con palabras, se escribe con la vida

Glory is not written with words, it is written with your life.
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

Don Pedro Albizu Campos is, without a doubt, the maximum figure in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence and the main source of inspiration for all patriots who work for the freedom of our oppressed Nation. Albizu was born on September 12, 1891(others say he was born in 1893), in Tenerías, a barrio in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. He was the son of Alejandro Albizu, a Spanish merchant and Juana Campos, a woman of color. He was seven years old when the invading U.S. troops crossed through his native city in July of 1898. An orphan, he suffered the deprivations and evils of poverty caused by the military invasion of his country.

Albizu received his elementary and secondary education in the public schools of Juana Diaz and Ponce, where he demonstrated his exceptional brilliance. Due to his academic achievements, he was awarded a scholarship to continue his sudies in the United States. Albizu was undoubtedly blessed with a superior intelligence. He was awarded a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Vermont in 1912. After his first year in Vermont, Albizu met some professors from Harvard University who were so impressed with his brilliant mind that they offered him a place in the prestigious university.

At Harvard, Albizu demonstrated remarkable intelligence and extraordinary qualities of leadership. He was the recipient of many academic scholarships, honors and degrees in the field of Humanities, Chemical Engineering, Military Sciences and Law. He also acquired a vast knowledge of History and Politics and a command of seven languages, which he spoke fluently. Albizu accomplished this incredible formal education in seven years. He graduated from the Academy of Military Sciences in Massachusetts. During the First World War he was recruited into the United States Army during World War I (1914-1918), but never fought in the battle front. He served in an African-American unit, trained by the French Military mission, and organized NCO school and Home Guard in Puerto Rico. Albizu was discharged as First Lieutenant, US Infantry.

In 1919, Albizu returns to Harvard where he got his law degree as well as degrees in Literature, Philosophy, Chemical Engineering and Military Sciences. He was fluent in English, Spanish French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Latin and Greek. He was elected president of Harvard's Cosmopolitan Club and dealt with foreign students and lecturers, like Sudas Ghandra Gose (Indian Nationalist leader with Ghandi) and the Hindu poet Rabindranath Tagore. Albizu became interested in the cause of Indian independence, and helped to found several centers in Boston to work for Irish Independence. He met Eamon de Valera and was later consulted in the drafting of the yet to be used constitution of the Irish Free State.

Upon graduating from Harvard, he received job offers as Hispanic representative for a protestant church, as a legal aide to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the U.S. State Department's diplomatic corps in Mexico. He rejected them all and opted to return to Puerto Rico. After finishing his education he returned to Puerto Rico in 1921 and dedicated his time to social justice and politics. He first joined the Partido de la Unión (Union Party), but soon breaks away from it, dedicating himself to his work as a lawyer and writing newspaper articles. In May of 1924 Albizu joins the Nationalist Party, which had been organized two years before. He is elected Vice-President on that same month. From then on he dedicated his life to the struggle to liberate Puerto Rico from the United States. His popularity grew very rapidly, and this threatened the Party’s leadership which at the time was composed of white intellectuals totally isolated from the popular masses.

The first President of the Nationalist Party, José Coll y Cuchí used to begin every meeting with a salute to the U.S. flag, as a symbol of Liberty and Democracy. One particular time in the Plaza Baldorioty, Don Pedro removed all the little U.S. flags which decorated the tribune of the Nationalist Party one by one. It was then that he pronounced the now famous words:

Bandera norteamericana, yo no te saludo, porque a pesar que eres símbolo de una patria libre y soberana para mi significas pillaje y piratería.

North American flag, I do not salute you, because even though you are the symbol of a free and sovereign country, to me you represent pillage and piracy.

The tension between Don Pedro and the Party’s leadership grew and to avoid the threat he represented to them, he was sent in a pilgrimage to gather support for the Independence of Puerto Rico. From 1927 to 1930, Albizu traveled throughout Latin America representing the Nationalist Party in order to build support and solidarity with nationalist struggle for Puerto Rican independence. This pilgrimage began on June of 1927. He visited the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. He returned to Puerto Rico on January 4 of 1930, after having to make huge sacrifices. Don Pedro didn’t receive any economic support whatsoever to carry out this pilgrimage. He had to sell his personal belongings and he often had to sleep on public benches due to lack of funds.

On May 11 of 1930, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, supported by the Nationalist Youth, was elected President. That same year he forms the first Women's Nationalist Committee, in the island of Vieques, P.R. Under Albizu’s leadership, the Party became a vanguard committed to struggle to break free from misery and chaos. This marked the transformation of the Nationalist Party from the practice of a nationalism made of “paper” to the vocation of heroism which he imprinted on the organization. The Nationalists would not accept any privilege from the colonial government or U.S. corporations. This gave them an image of moral and incorruptible people.

From the beginning of his involvement in the Nationalist Party, Albizu cultivated strong anti-imperialist feelings. He was a great orator and easily earned the love and respect of the party and the Puerto Rican people. Albizu imprinted a special character on the Nationalist Party which puts the Puerto Rican Nation as the supreme ideal. With the advent of consecrated Patriot and Apostle, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, the Party acquired the personality which characterizes it to this day. His words express clearly the new philosophy which would inspire the Nationalists:

No hay margen para una actitud fraternal y solidaria con los enemigos de la Patria. Hay que ponerse de frente al invasor valientemente, de lo contrario estaremos destinados a perecer irremediablemente.

There is no margin for a fraternal and supportive attitude with the enemies of the Country. We must face the invader valiantly, otherwise we will be destined to perish without remedy.

Don Pedro argued in court and at the podium, that the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico was illegal. His argument was based on the question of the USA being awarded proprietary rights over Puerto Rico by virtue of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1898. The island was handed over by Spain along with Cuba and the Philippines as spoils of war to the U.S. As Albizu stated, Puerto Rico had previously been recognized as an independent and sovereign nation by Spain. Therefore, the transfer of power to the United States, accorded on the Treaty of Paris, had been a illegal act, since Puerto Rico did not “belong” to anyone.

Albizu claimed that the treaty was nullified by the fact that Spain had already granted Autonomy to Puerto Rico in 1897. By the time of the treaty, Puerto Rico had its own coin, its own postage stamps, mail and custom service and was therefore a sovereign independent nation under international law. As Albizu claimed, Spain had no rights to give away another sovereign nation. Further more, Puerto Rico had never participated in the treaty or even consulted. As Albizu stated, "this countries consent to its association with the US, never having been asked, nor conceded, the acquisition effected by the U.S. under said treaty, is a violation of international Law."

Don Pedro never accepted the United States rights to govern in Puerto Rico. He stated that "if they won't listen to legal reason, then we must take up arms against the invaders." When Albizu called the Puerto Rican people to arms, he cited as legal precedents the Boston Tea Party and the drawn sword of George Washington. Don Pedro taught that the rescue of our independence is a fundamental, and for that purpose Don Pedro justified the use of any means, from peaceful conversations to armed struggle. Albizu was convinced that the U.S. would not give Puerto Rico its independence by peaceful means. He compared the situation in Puerto Rico to that suffered by the United States under British colonial rule.

The United States gained its independence from England through the use of armed struggle. Albizu had studied in depth the history of the United States, and knew well the aspects which gave the nation its power and as its weaknesses. He went beyond our time and prophesized the fatal destiny which the United States would inevitable confront if it didn’t change its attitude towards the rest of the World. His arguments produced the rage of the colonial government and the repression by the island’s chief of police, colonel Francis Riggs.

As Albizu inspired the Nationalists to continue the struggle for independence and the Cadets of the Republic were formed in a strict military spirit, the tension in Puerto Rico increased as a result of the strong growing identification of the people with Albizu’s ideals. In response, the U.S. government opted for strong repressive tactics against the Nationalist movement. The preoccupation of the FBI with Don Pedro Albizu Campos was so big that his files in this federal agency was composed of several thousand folders. This reflects the fear of the US government of the movement created by Albizu. He soon became the main target of the colonial forces and was arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy. In 1937, he was sentenced to ten years in prison in Atlanta.

In 1947, after two years of hospital treatment in New York, Pedro Albizu Campos returned to Puerto Rico and the members of the Nationalist Party began to prepare for an armed struggle to obtain the independence of Puerto Rico. On October 30 of 1950, the Nationalist Insurrection takes place, which included an attack on the residence of U.S. president Harry S. Truman. After the revolt of 1950, when Albizu was arrested in Old San Juan, it is told that the police expected resistance from the Nationalist leader, but found him seating peacefully writing the following words which he handed to his secretary:

Dios me mire con piedad: Dame su luz. Concédeme Su vida eterna. Concédeme la humildad de nuestro Señor Jesucristo; Su amor, Su perdón y Su generosidad hacia todos aquellos que lo crucificaron. Sean éstos nuestros sentimientos hacia todos aquellos que nos harían daño. Libéranos del odio y de la sed de la venganza, y de todo sentimiento amargo contra ellos.... Imploramos Vuestra Bendición eterna, para que nos encontremos, en el momento de Vuestra Llamada, en Vuestra Presencia Divina, donde se encuentran todos nuestros seres queridos.

May God look upon me with mercy: Give me His light. Grant me His eternal life. Grant me the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ; His love, His forgiveness and His generosity towards all of those who crucified him. May these be our feelings toward those who would do us harm. Free us from hate and from the thirst for vengeance, and from all bitter emotions against them…. We implore Your eternal Blessing, so that we may find ourselves, at the moment of Your Call, in Your Divine Presence, where all our loved ones are.

In 1953, he was pardoned by governor Luis Muñoz Marín. A year later, a number of nationalists protested the colonial situation of Puerto Rico by attacking the House of Representatives of the United States, and Albizu is imprisoned again. After being arrested, Albizu was willing to confront prison for the second time. There he suffered the most despicable torture in the hands of a nation which claims to be the defender of liberty. Albizu spent the last eleven years of his life in prison. He was imprisoned at La Princesa in San Juan, where he was submitted to illegal radiation experiments by the U.S. government causing a cancer which ended his life after a painful agony without adequate medical attention.

During his incarceration, he repeatedly charged that he was a target of human radiation experiments. During this time, the US was experimenting with radiation in La Princesa prison. Albizu Campos was one of the unfortunate prisoners to be experimented upon, without consent or warning for this process. It is said that he had his first radiation attack on February 21, 1951, which left him unconscious, and that another attack occurred on May 9, 1951. From then on, between 1951 and 1953, he suffered six to eight other radiation attacks, and he soon began to protect his head and body with wet towels because of the intense heat in his body caused by the radiation.

Albizu accused his captors of trying to kill him and eventually he would experience a stroke. The US government alleged that Albizu was insane, hoping that this would discredit his role as a national leader. The President of the Cuban Cancer Association, Dr. Orlando Damuy, traveled to Puerto Rico to examine him. According to Dr. Damuy, The burns on Albizu’s body were caused by intense radiation. When a metal paper clip with a film was placed on Albizu's skin, the clip was radiated into the film.

Albizu’s lawyers filed protests about his condition and the effects of the radiation. His health deteriorated and he did not received proper medical attention, was mistreated and abandoned to die. Many people tried to get Pedro Albizu Campos released from prison, but were unsuccessful. Albizu was at some point put into a hospital as a prisoner but later returned to prison. He was pardoned in 1953 by Luis Muñoz Marin, governor of Puerto Rico, but the pardon was revoked due another attempt against the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954.

From the mid-thirties to the early sixties, Pedro Albizu Campos would be in and out of U.S. prisons (25 years). In 1956 he suffered a stroke in prison and is transferred to Presbyterian Hospital under police guard after five days without medical attention. After an outpouring of international pressure, he was pardoned in 1964 by Governor Luis Muñoz Marín when he was already near death. He died that same year. On Sunday, March 25, 1965, Albizu suffered a final stroke and died on April 21 in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. His funeral was the most attended in the history of Puerto Rico. More than 75,000 Puerto Ricans carried the remains of his body to the Old San Juan Cemetery.

Albizu never identified with any particular political ideology except for that of Nationalism. Philosophically Pedro Albizu Campos was neither a communist nor an anti-American, which was always expressed in his words… "The good people of the U.S. are not to be blamed for the shameless conduct of certain government officials." In fact, he was a deeply religious man of strong Catholic faith. His philosophy and new ideas based on the necessity for a combative nation, appealed then to great numbers of Puerto Ricans who were motivated by his spiritual humanist ideals, his devotion to his Nation and his Light.

Albizu possessed extensive political, philosophical, and military knowledge with a mixture of Catholicism, patriotism, mysticism and self-denial, “valor and sacrifice,” as well as a concept of practical materialism, which made it possible for him to effectively address the political reality of Puerto Rico. All of this was emphasized by his providential concept of history. Don Pedro Albizu Campos taught that history is the collective process by which Humanity, painfully and sacrificially recovers, in accordance with the Creator, the glorious path from which it strayed in its Fall. Its Leaders will be, according to category of their deeds, flag-bearers of this purification of Humanity through existence. Collectively, Humanity, like the saints and heroes of history, will also stroll victoriously over the shadows of Death.

Los hombres y las mujeres que se levantan con la bandera de la independencia en un pueblo son venerados por todos porque no piden nada para sí que al mismo tiempo no pidan para sus hermanos, hasta para sus hermanos traidores porque no hay derecho a sentenciar ni al traidor siquiera a vivir en la ignominia de la esclavitud política.

The men and women who rise with the flag of independence in a nation are venerated by all because they do not ask for anything for themselves which at the same time they do not ask for their brothers and sisters, even for their traitor brothers and sisters because there is no right to sentence even the traitor to live in the disgrace of political slavery.
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

Albizu's brilliant intellect could have won him privileged positions and great riches, but the call to serve his Nation was stronger. The Puerto Rican people recognized in Albizu the noble patriotic mission represented by his ideals, which transcend beyond any political ideology and put the Puerto Rican Nation as the main objective of his struggle. Like his Latin American predecessors El Libertador (the Liberator) Simon Bolivar and the Puerto Rican anti-Spanish rebel, Dr. Ramon Emeterio Betances, he became a militant activist of liberty. Many people found his shunning of wealth and materialism hard to believe, to which his response was "This is my duty for having been born in an enslaved country". He was jailed a series of times and eventually killed for preaching and educating the Puerto Rican people in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence.

El patriotismo require la ofrenda y en esto no hay parcialidad.
O todo o nada.

Patriotism requires the offering and in this there is no partiality.
Either all or nothing.
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

Pedro Albizu Campos was the most prominent Puerto Rican political figure of the 20th century. He is considered a mayor symbol of Puerto Rican Nationalism and a National Hero who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. Under his direction, the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico became a major force in the fight for independence. He urged the Puerto Rican people to reclaim their cultural history and national symbols such as the flag and the national anthem. Albizu is called El Maestro (The Teacher) by all who loved him and valued his teachings to the Puerto Rican people and the world. He was a powerful speaker, during the decades of 1930 and 1950, multitudes in Puerto Rico gathered around to listen to his passionate and eloquent speeches, which he delivered with patriotic energy.


La fuente de la justicia y del derecho de nuestra patria tiene
que emanar exclusivamente de los puertorriqueños

The source of justice and of the right of our country must emanate exclusively from the Puerto Rican people
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

Don Pedro‘s role is made greater by his spiritual conception of the World and Life. His patriotic message deals with the search for the roots of the Puerto Rican Nation and the significance of the living spiritual presence of the heroes of the 19th century rebellions against Spain, whom he considered the forefathers of the Puerto Rican Nation. Due to his dedication to the liberation of our country, He represents the most valuable symbol of “valor and sacrifice” in the name of liberty and traced the path to be followed by all the generations of Puerto Ricans to come. Today there are parks, streets and schools named after Don Pedro Albizu Campos. On June 11, 2000, the 5th Anniversary of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade and 42nd Anniversary of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City were dedicated to Don Pedro Albizu Campos. New generations of patriots follow his example to continue their struggle for Puerto Rico's independence.

La Patria es Valor y Sacrificio
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos

For information regarding the Puerto Rican Nationalist Youth of New York contact us at “BoricuaNation@yahoo.com”