Oscar Collazo

Oscar Collazo (1914-1994) was a Puerto Rican Nationalist who, along with Griselio Torresola, attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at Blair House on November 1, 1950, in solidarity with the Nationalist Insurrection happening simultaneously in Puerto Rico.

Born in Florida, Puerto Rico (a barrio in Jayuya), Collazo migrated to New York where he worked as a metalworker and became active in the Nationalist Party. The Blair House attack resulted in the death of Torresola and White House Police Officer Leslie Coffelt. Collazo was wounded, captured, tried, and sentenced to death.

President Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in 1952. President Jimmy Carter commuted it to time served in 1979, after 29 years in prison. Collazo returned to Puerto Rico, where he continued to advocate for independence until his death.

Collazo consistently maintained that his action was political, not personal. He stated: "I came not to kill Truman. I came to die for Puerto Rico." His words reflected a tradition of political sacrifice that includes Betances, Albizu Campos, and the Nationalist movement's understanding that armed resistance against colonialism was both a right and a duty.