Memorandum from the District Intelligence Officer to the Commandant to the Tenth Naval District, with Related Material

RESTRICTED DECLASSIFIED RESPRICTED DISTRICT INTELLIGENCE OFFICE Authority E.O. 10501 EN3-10/10ND HEADQUARTERS A11(7) ALBIZU TENTH NAVAL DISTRICT Serial: DIO-48- 70 SAN JUAN. PUERTO RICO 18 April 1948 MEMORANDUM From: District Intelligence Officer, 1OND. To: The Commandant, TENTH Naval District. Subject: Pedro ALBIZU CAMPOS. 1. Biography of subjects Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, September 12, 1891 of a white father and colored mother. Attended Harvard University, 1912 - 1916, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Volunteered to serve in the U. S. Army in 1917. Discharged in April 1919. Returned to Harvard in 1919, and in 1921 obtained a Master of Arts degree. 20 While at Harvard and later in the Army, ALBIZU encountered sufficient racial prejudice to embitter him toward the United States. It was in the Army, particularly, that he found himself considered a negro, and since then his hatred of the United States has continued to grow. 30 As head of the Nationalist Party in Puerto Rico, he was in 1936 convicted to serve six years in the Federal Penitentiary at Atlanta as a result of Nationalist terroristic activity culminating in the assassination of Colonel Riggs, Chief of the Insular Police. The Nationalists had been printing their own bonds, recruiting and drilling their own army and inciting others to rebellion and insurrection. 40 On June 3, 1943 ALBIZU was released from Atlanta but remained on probation in New York City until June 2, 1947. ALBIZU returned to Puerto Rico on December 15, 1947. He was met by an enthusiastic mob of followers numbering about 2000. With his return, federal and insular law enforcement agencies were confronted with the problem of the revival of active Nationalism. If ALBIZU had not lost any of his hatred for United States rule while in prison, there was a strong possibility that a wave of violence could sweep the island. To date, however, ALBIZU has confined himself to virulent anti-U.S. and anti- Popular Party speeches which have for the most part been incoherent, repeti- tious, seditious, and absolutely lacking in logic. Among other things, he has told his followers, which probably number between 3000 - 5000, that they must kill all members of Selective Service Boards, arm themselves against the tyrannical Yankees, and kill all Puerto Ricans who have betrayed their country and are working for the United States. - 1 -