Puerto Rican Separatists

[Daoloth]

I'm aware that in 1954 Puerto Rican separatists stormed a session of the US Congress and shot five congressmen, but that's all I know. I'm curious as to the rest of the story. Any good online articles? Thanks in advance.

[TheeGrumpy]

According to this story (http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/puertorico/macheteros.htm) from 1998, there were four assailants, and the five members of Congress were only wounded.

Thank you, Google.

[TheeGrumpy]

And by "only wounded," I mean that I read "shot" in the OP as "killed." Silly me.

Here's another retrospective account (http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1996/05/01/news/rafael/).

[Cliffy]

If you ever watch C-Sapn's coverage of the House of Representatives, you'll see they have these tan chairs with high backs. The backs are actually filled with bullet-proof material so that if someone starts shooting the members can duck behind the chairs. That's at least one result of the attack.

--Cliffy

[bibliophage]

Several years earlier, there was an assassination attempt against President Truman by members of a different Puerto Rican separatist group. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/trivia/assassin.htm