Miss Lolita Lebròn is what revolutionary Puerto Ricans are made of. Doña Lolita, as she is affectionately known, became a nationalist hero in 1954 when she organized an assault on the U.S. Congress with her comrades Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores and Andres Figueroa Cordero.
On March 1, 1954, Lolita and her three comrades calmly entered the Capitol, walked through the lobby and when Lebròn’s group reached the visitor’s gallery above the the chamber in House, Lolita then gave the order, the Nationalists unfurled the Puerto Rican flag, Lolita stood up and shouted “Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre!” and within seconds they opened fire on the U.S. Congress. Five congressmen were wounded in the attack. All four Nationalists were immediately arrested.
Upon being arrested, Lebròn yelled “I did not come to kill anyone, I can to die for Puerto Rico!” The four were soon convicted and given life sentences.
During the social and political upsurge of the 1960s and 1970s in Puerto Rico and the United States, more and more people raised the demand for the immediate release of the four as political prisoners. The campaign received international support in part because of the diplomatic and political support of revolutionary Cuba. The pressure paid off in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to Lolita Lebron, and the other nationalists, after spending 24 years in prison.
After her release, she continued to be active in the independence called and participated in the protests again the the United States Navy’s presence in Vieques.
Doña Lolita, died on August 1, 2010 at age 90.