| Olga Viscal Garriga | |
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Student leader and spokesperson of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party's branch in Rio Piedras during her trial |
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| Born | May 5, 1929 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | June 1995 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Nationality | Puerto Rican |
| Influenced by | Pedro Albizu Campos |
| Political movement | Puerto Rican Nationalist Party |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Children | Pedro, Olga, and Maria Luz |
| Part of a series on the |
| Puerto Rican Nationalist Party |
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Dr. Olga Viscal Garriga [note 1] (May 5, 1929 – June 1995), was a public orator and political activist. Garriga was an advocate of Puerto Rican independence who was sentenced to 8 years in a United States penitentiary because she refused to recognize the authority of the United States over Puerto Rico.
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Olga Viscal's (birth name Olga Isabel Viscal Garriga) parents, Francisco Viscal Bravo and Laura Garriga Gonzalez, moved from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York, where she was born, in the in early 1920s. Olga, who was one of seven children born to the couple, was the 4th great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Don Juan Andres Daban y Busterino, who served as the Spanish-appointed Governor and General Captain of Puerto Rico from 1783-89. Her parents returned to Puerto Rico and settled in Rio Piedras where she was raised and educated. Olga Viscal was witness to the discrimination of Puerto Ricans in New York and strongly disagreed with U.S. policies limiting human rights, freedom of speech, and self determination in Puerto Rico.[1]
Viscal enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico where she earned her Doctoral Degree in Political Sciences. During the late 1940s, and while finishing her Ph.D., she became a student leader and spokesperson of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party's branch in Rio Piedras. The Party was headed by Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, and favored the forceful expulsion of the United States from Puerto Rico.
On May 21, 1948, a bill was introduced before the Puerto Rican Senate which would restrain the rights of the independence and nationalist movements in the island. The Senate at the time was controlled by the PPD and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín approved the Bill.[2] The Bill, also known as the "Ley de la Mordaza" (gag Law), made it illegal to display a Puerto Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to talk of independence, and to fight for the liberation of the island. The Bill which resembled the anti-communist Smith Law passed in the United States, was signed and made into law on June 10, 1948, by the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero and became known as "Ley 53" (Law 53).[3] In accordance to the new law, it would be a crime to print, publish, sale, to exhibit or organize or to help anyone organize any society, group or assembly of people whose intentions are to paralyze or destroy the insular government. Anyone accused and found guilty of disobeying the law could be sentenced to ten years of prison, be fined $10,000 dollars (US) or both. According to Leopoldo Figueroa, a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, the law was repressive and was in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees Freedom of Speech. He pointed out that the law as such was a violation of the civil rights of the people of Puerto Rico.[4]
Viscal, who befriended Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, was a talented orator and political activist. Although she was not directly involved in any violent act in 1950, Viscal was arrested because she participated in a demonstration that turned deadly in Old San Juan, after U.S. forces opened fire on the demonstrators. In the violent confrontation between the "Nationalists" and the "Forces" of the United States, one of the demonstrators was killed. She was detained and housed in the "La Princesa" jail. During her trial in the federal court in "Old San Juan", she was uncooperative with the U. S. Government prosecution and refused to recognize the authority of the U.S. over Puerto Rico. She was sentenced to eight years in prison for contempt of court and was released after serving five years.[1]
After her release from prison, Viscal went to Cuba, where she was the Puerto Rican representative to the Cuban Parliament. As such, she met with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Albert Einstein. She was a very devout Catholic, and thus became disillusioned with Castro's politics and his atheist policies. After publicly criticizing Castro, she escaped from Cuba with the help of her younger sister, Irma.[1] Olga Viscal Garriga died in June 1995 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was the mother of three children, Pedro, Olga and Maria Luz.
Olga Viscal was the inspiration for the main character "Antígona", in the play "La Pasión según Antígona Pérez" (The Passion according to Antígona Pérez), written by Puerto Rican playwright Luis Rafael Sánchez.[5]