Elizam Escobar
| Elizam Escobar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
24 May 1948 Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| Nationality | Puerto Rican |
| Education | University of Puerto Rico |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work |
Los sepultureros (1985) El velorio (1991) El embalsamador y la viuda (2001) |
| Website | http://polvo.org/elizam.htm |
| Patron(s) | Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico |
Elizam Escobar (24 May 1948) is a Puerto Rican art theorist, poet, visual artist and writer. He served a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted while a member of the FALN.
Escobar was born in Puerto Rico's second largest city, Ponce, Puerto Rico, on the southern part of the island. There he received his primary and secondary education. As a child, he always enjoyed drawing and painting. After Escobar graduated from high school he enrolled and attended the University of Puerto Rico to pursue his artistic studies.
During his years as a student, he became actively involved in the Puerto Rican independence movement. He became a member of the underground group called Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN). After he earned his bachelor's degree in Visual Arts, he moved to New York City. In New York he attended the City College of New York. Escobar also taught art at the Museo del Barrio's School of the Arts from 1979 to 1980.
On 4 April 1980, Escobar was among eleven FALN members arrested by the FBI in Evanston, Illinois, under the suspicion of plotting to bomb Federal installations. They were charged with seditious conspiracy and related charges. During and after the trial he maintained his position that he and the others were prisoners of war. Escobar was sentenced to a prison term of 68 years which was to be served in the federal prison of El Reno, Oklahoma. On 7 September 1999, Escobar and the ten other prisoners who were arrested with him were granted clemency by President Bill Clinton. Escobar returned to Puerto Rico immediately upon his release.
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