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A lone drummer walks in advance of the honor guard and hearse carrying the coffin of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor.

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The sky blue of the Puerto Rican flag flies over the crowd as the funeral cortège of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor arrives at the Cathedral in Old San Juan.

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A peaceful moment at Old San Juan's historic Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis cemetery. The Puerto Rican flag, together with the historic Lares Revolutionary flag fly over the open tomb of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor.

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One of the many wreaths on its way to the tomb of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor.

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As the funeral service for Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor takes place in the Cathedral in Old San Juan, a crowd begins to form around her waiting tomb.

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Crowds stand on the historic wall of Old San Juan overlooking the cemetery during the funeral of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor.

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Pallbearers arrive at the cemetery of Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis carrying the coffin of Puerto Rican Independence icon Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor.

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The coffin of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor is carried to the waiting tomb.

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The graveside service for Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor at the historic cemetery of Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis in Old San Juan.

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Carlos Alberto Torres, a Puerto Rican political prisioner only recently paroled from a US Federal prison in Chicago, stands in silent, dignified witness in front of the tomb of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor.

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As the sun sets on the historic cemetery of Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis in Old San Juan, the remaining mourners gather at the tomb of Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor in the shadow of the flags of Puerto Rico, Lares Independence and the Puerto Rican Independence Party.

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  • © David Gasser
  • DSCF0854©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF0874©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF8089©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF0916©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF0927©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF8186©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF8123©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF8173©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF0932©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF8299©David F Gasser.jpg
  • DSCF8305©David F Gasser.jpg

Puerto Rican Nationalist Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor passed away on August 1, 2010 at the age of 90.  Lolita was one of a group of Puerto Rican Nationalists who mounted an assault on the US House of Representatives in 1954.  In the House Gallery, she unfurled a Puerto Rican flag and shouted "¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!"  She opened fire, aiming at the ceiling.  Upon her arrest, Lolita declared, "I didn't come to kill anyone, I came to die for Puerto Rico."  Convicted, she served 25 years in a US Federal Prison until pardoned by US President Jimmy Carter in 1981.  Throughout her long life, she remained committed to Puerto Rican Independence and was an important figure in the struggle against the continued US Navy bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.  She received a hero's burial in the historic cemetery of Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis in Old San Juan only steps from the tomb of Pedro Albizu Campos, one of the early leaders of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement.

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