to death and was sent to the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas. According to Cortez-Collazo the FBI knocked on her door and more than twenty agents entered. They showed her a photo of Oscar on the ground and told her that they had just killed him, she then replied: Cortez-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. Upon her release, she successfully campaigned on her husband's behalf and gathered thousands of signatures demanding that his sentence be commuted to life. President Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment to be carried out at Leavenworth. She also worked (unsuccessfully) for the release of her cellmate Ethel Rosenberg. Planning the assault on the House of Representatives In 1954, Lebrón received a letter from Albizu Campos, in which he declared his intention to order attacks on "three locations, the most strategic to the enemy". Albizu Campos wanted Lebrón to pick a group of nationalists for this task without her personal participation. Lebrón presented the plan to the Nationalist Party in New York where Cortez-Collazo served as treasurer. Lebrón choose Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores and Andrés Figueroa Cordero for the task. The pistols used in the attack were purchased by the Chicago Nationalist branch and sent to the New York branch. The New York branch provided the group with weapons and the funds for their railroad tickets. Disregarding Albizu Campo's wishes, she decided to lead the group. The date for the attack on the House of Representatives was to be March 1, 1954. This date was chosen because it coincided with the inauguration of the Conferencia Interamericana (Interamerican Conference) in Caracas. Lebrón intended to call attention to Puerto Rico's independence cause, particularly among the Latin American countries participating in the conference. Assault on the House of Representatives The Nationalists arrived with the group in Washington, D.C. and sat in the visitor's gallery in the House of Representatives. The representatives of the House were discussing Mexico's economy when suddenly Lebrón gave the order to the group to quickly recited the Lord's Prayer. She then stood up and shouted "¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!" ("Long live a Free Puerto Rico!") and unfurled the flag of Puerto Rico. The group opened fire with semi-automatic pistols. Even though some 30 shots were fired (mostly by Cancel,