23 Facts About Rosa Collazo

Rosa Collazo was the wife of Oscar Collazo one of two Nationalists who attacked Blair House in 1950 in an attempt to kill President Harry Truman.

Rosa Collazo was accused by the FBI of assisting Nationalists Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores and Andres Figueroa Cordero in their assault on the United States House of Representatives in 1954.

Rosa Collazo was charged on both occasions with seditious conspiracy for her complicity in a conspiracy to overthrow the United States Government and imprisoned because of her political beliefs.

Rosa Collazo graduated from Ponce High School in 1923 and completed a 6-week nurses' aide course.

Rosa Collazo rented a room from her godmother who lived in an apartment building in Manhattan.

Cortez-Rosa Collazo was subject to the racism which was rampant at the time in the United States.

Cortez-Rosa Collazo became politically active and joined the Caborrojeno Club and later joined the Club Obrero Espanol, radical labor oriented organization.

Rosa Collazo survived, during the great depression of the 1930s, with the help of the Salvation Army.

In 1941, Oscar Rosa Collazo moved to New York City, which at the time had a large Puerto Rican community.

Rosa Collazo met and became friends with Albizu Campos when the latter was hospitalized for a time at the Columbus Hospital.

Rosa Collazo met Griselio Torresola, a fellow nationalist, in New York and the two men soon became friends.

Cortez-Rosa Collazo was accused of collaboration to overthrow the government and was sent to the Women's House of Detention on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan where she spent 8 months imprisoned.

Rosa Collazo worked for the release of her cellmate Ethel Rosenberg.

Lebron presented the plan to the Nationalist Party in New York where Cortez-Rosa Collazo served as treasurer.

Rosa Collazo was accused of being the Liaison between party leaders in Puerto Rio and the New York junta; treasurer of the New York junta and participant in its discussions in regard to the House of Representative shootings.

Rosa Collazo was committed for seven years at Alderson Prison, West Virginia.

Cortez-Rosa Collazo was released from prison in 1961 and visited her mother in Puerto Rico.

Rosa Collazo later returned to her apartment in the Bronx.

Rosa Collazo continued to actively participate in Puerto Rico's independence movement.

Rosa Collazo was given recognition for her efforts towards the commutation of her ex-husband's death sentence.

Rosa Collazo wrote her life story which is titled Memorias de Rosa Collazo, ASIN: B0000D6RNT.

In May 1988, Cortez-Rosa Collazo died in San Juan, Puerto Rico by the side of her daughter Lydia, with whom she had been living the last years of her life.

Oscar Rosa Collazo continued to participate in activities related to the independence movement.