The San Juan Nationalist revolt was one of many uprisings against United States Government rule which occurred in Puerto Rico on October 30, 1950 during the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party revolts. Amongst the uprising's main objectives were an attack on La Fortaleza (the governor's mansion in San Juan), and the U.S. Federal Court House Building in Old San Juan.
On September 17, 1922, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was formed. José Coll y Cuchí, a former member of the Union Party, was elected its first president. He wanted radical changes within the economy and social welfare programs of Puerto Rico. In 1924, Pedro Albizu Campos, a lawyer, joined the party and was named its vice president.
Don Pedro Albizu Campos, leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Albizu Campos was the first Puerto Rican graduate of Harvard Law School. He had served as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I, and believed that Puerto Rico should be an independent nation - even if that required an armed confrontation. By 1930, Coll y Cuchí departed from the party because of his disagreements with Albizu Campos as to how the party should be run. On May 11, 1930, Albizu Campos was elected president of the Nationalist Party.
In the 1930s, the United States-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Blanton Winship, and police colonel Riggs applied harsh repressive measures against the Nationalist Party.[1] In 1936, Albizu Campos and the leaders of the party were arrested and jailed at the La Princesa prison in San Juan, and later sent to the Federal Prison at Atlanta, Georgia. On March 21, 1937, the Nationalists held a parade in Ponce and the police opened fire on the crowd, in what was to become known as the Ponce massacre. Albizu Campos returned to Puerto Rico on December 15, 1947 after spending 10 years in prison.
On May 21, 1948, a bill was introduced before the Puerto Rican Senate which would restrain the rights of the independence and Nationalist movements on the island. The Senate, controlled by the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín, approved the bill that day.[2] This bill, which resembled the anti-communist Smith Act passed in the United States in 1940, became known as the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law) when the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero, signed it into law on June 10, 1948.[3]
Under this new law it would be a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government; or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent. It made it illegal to sing a patriotic song, and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the Flag of Puerto Rico, with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 (equivalent to $127,000in 2023), or both. According to Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa, member of the Partido Estadista Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Statehood Party) and the only member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives who did not belong to the PPD,[4] 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.[5]
On June 21, 1948, Albizu Campos gave a speech in the town of Manatí where Nationalists from all over the island had gathered, in case the police attempted to arrest him.
The Ponce massacre
One particular event in Puerto Rican history had a galvanizing effect on the Puerto Rican Nationalist movement. The Ponce massacre occurred Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, when a peaceful march in Ponce, Puerto Rico, turned into a bloody police slaughter of unarmed, defenseless Puerto Ricans.
Carlos Torres Morales, a photo journalist for the newspaper El Imparcial was covering the march and took this photograph when the shooting began.
The march had been organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico by the governing Spanish National Assembly in 1873. The march was also protesting the imprisonment, by the U.S. government, of Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos on alleged sedition charges.[7][8]
The bloodshed began when the Insular Police fired on the marchers - killing 18 unarmed civilians, one policeman (shot in friendly fire from his fellow officers), and wounding some 235 civilians, including women and children. One 7-year-old girl was shot (and killed) in the back.[9]
The Insular Police, a force resembling the National Guard, was under the military command of the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, General Blanton Winship.[10] Ultimate responsibility fell on Governor Winship, who controlled the National Guard and insular police, and personally ordered the massacre.[11] It was the largest massacre in Puerto Rican history.[12]
From 1949 to 1950, the Nationalists in the island began to plan and prepare an armed revolution, hoping that the United Nations would take notice and intervene on their behalf. The uprising was to occur in 1952, on the date the United States Congress was to approve the creation of the political status Free Associated State ("Estado Libre Associado") for Puerto Rico. The reason behind Albizu Campos' call for an armed revolution was that he considered the "new" status a colonial farce.
The police disrupted this timetable, and the Nationalist revolution was accelerated by two years. On October 26, 1950, Albizu Campos was holding a meeting in Fajardo when he received word that his house in San Juan was surrounded by police waiting to arrest him. He was also told that the police had already arrested other Nationalist leaders. He escaped from Fajardo and ordered the revolution to start.
Puerto Rican flag removed by a Puerto Rican National Guard soldier after the 1950 Jayuya Uprising
The next day, on October 27, the police fired upon a caravan of Nationalists in the town of Peñuelas, and killed four of them. This police massacre inflamed many in Puerto Rico, and the outcry was immediate. The first armed battle of the Nationalist uprisings occurred in the early morning of October 29, in the barrio Macaná of town of Peñuelas. The insular police surrounded the house of the mother of Melitón Muñiz Santos, the president of the Peñuelas Nationalist Party in the barrio Macaná, that Muñiz Santos was using as a distribution center for weapons for the Nationalist Revolt.[13] Without warning, the police fired upon the Nationalists in the house and a firefight between both factions ensued, resulting on the death of two Nationalists and wounding of six police officers.[14] Nationalists Meliton Muñoz Santos, Roberto Jaime Rodriguez, Estanislao Lugo Santiago, Marcelino Turell, William Gutirrez and Marcelino Berrios were arrested and accused of participating in an ambush against the local insular police.[15][16]
In accordance with the planned uprising in San Juan, a group of Nationalists were supposed to attack the mansion known as La Fortaleza, where Puerto Rican governor Luis Muñoz Marín resided. Simultaneously, the Nationalists planned to attack the U.S. Federal Court House, located close to La Marina in Old San Juan.
Old Federal Court House in Old San Juan
The government learned of the planned attacks from informants named Faustino Díaz Pacheco and Luciano Cuadra. Faustino Díaz Pacheco was the brother of Raimundo Díaz Pacheco, the Commander-in-Chief of the Nationalist Cadets of the Republic. He was thus aware of all Nationalist activity and planning not only in San Juan, but throughout the entire island.[17] Luciano Cuadra was president of the San Juan chapter of the Nationalist Party. Pacheco and Cuadra betrayed their own organization, informed the police, and later became government witnesses.[17][18]
Unaware of the internal betrayal, Jesús Pomales González, one of five Nationalists assigned to attack the court house, approached the building and saw the police arresting his comrades Carlos Padilla, Diego Quiñones González, Juan Sandoval Ramos and Joaquín Padín Concepción. Pomales opened fire, the police fired back, and Pomales was taken to the municipal hospital where he would recover from his wounds.[18]
Attack on La Fortaleza
The bodies of Carlos Hiraldo Resto and Manuel Torres Medina lie on the ground, after their attack on La Fortaleza
Earlier that morning, Nationalists Domingo Hiraldo Resto, Carlos Hiraldo Resto, Gregorio Hernández and Manuel Torres Medina who were assigned to attack La Fortaleza, met in the San Juan sector of Martín Peña, at the house of Raimundo Díaz Pacheco - the Nationalist leader and Commander of the Cadets of the Republic. At 11 A.M. they boarded a blue Plymouth and headed towards Old San Juan to accomplish their mission. The men arrived at La Fortaleza at noon and stopped their car 25 feet from their objective's main entrance[19] They got out of the car with a submachine gun and pistols in hand and immediately began firing towards the mansion. Díaz Pacheco headed towards the mansion while the others took cover close to their car and fired with their pistols from their positions.
The Fortaleza guards and police, who already knew of the planned attack, returned fire and a firefight between the two groups ensued. Díaz Pacheco, who was the Leader of the Nationalist Cadets, fired his submachine gun at the second floor of the mansion where the executive offices of Governor Luis Muñoz Marín were located. During the firefight, Díaz Pacheco wounded two police officers, Isidoro Ramos and Vicente Otero Díaz before he was killed by Fortaleza guard Carmelo Dávila.[19]
Meanwhile, the police continued to fire upon the other Nationalists. Domingo Hiraldo Resto was seriously wounded, but despite his wounds he dragged himself towards the mansions entrance. He was able to reach the mansions main door and once there he was motionless and appeared to be dead. He suddenly turned and sat on the steps and with his hands held up pleaded for mercy, his pleas however, were answered with a fusillade of gunfire.[20]
Hernández, who was also severely wounded continued to fire against the police from under the car. A police officer and a detective from La Fortaleza with submachine guns approached the car and fired upon Hernández, Carlos Hiraldo Resto and Torres Medina. Both Carlos Hiraldo Resto and Torres Medina were killed and their motionless bodies laid in the ground by the right side of the car. It was believed that Hernández was dead, however he wasn't and was taken to the local hospital along with the wounded police officers where they were operated for their respective wounds. The battle lasted just over one hour and at the ended of the battle there were five Nationalist casualties, four dead and one wounded, plus three wounded police officers.[20] E. Rivera Orellana, a sixth Nationalist, who later turned out to be an undercover agent, was arrested near La Fortaleza and later released.[20]
Gun fight at Salón Boricua
A wounded Vidal Santiago Díaz is carried out of his barbershop by the police
The following day, October 31, at 2:00p.m., 15 police officers and 25 National Guardsmen arrived at 351 Calle Colton (Colton Street), esquina Barbosa (at the corner of Barbosa Street), of Barrio Obrero (a section named Workers Barrio) in Santurce and surrounded a barbershop named the Salón Boricua. This barbershop was owned and operated by Vidal Santiago Díaz, a Nationalist who was the personal barber of Albizu Campos.
As they surrounded the barbershop, these 40 armed men believed that a large group of Nationalists were inside, and sent a police officer to investigate. Santiago Díaz believed that he was going to be shot by this officer, and armed himself with a pistol. The situation escalated quickly, Santiago Díaz shot first, and the police all fired back - with machine guns, rifles, carbines, revolvers, and even grenades.[21]
The firefight lasted three hours and ended when Santiago Díaz received five bullet wounds, one of them to the head. Two bystanders and a child were also wounded.
This gun battle between 40 heavily armed policemen and one barber, made Puerto Rican radio history. It was the first time an event of this magnitude was transmitted "live" via the radio airwaves, and the entire island was left in shock.[21] The reporters who covered the event for Radio WIAC were Luis Enrique "Bibí" Marrero, Víctor Arrillaga and Luis Romanacce. Miguel Angel Alvarez covered it for Radio WENA. Over a dozen other radio stations were there, as well.[22][23]
Thinking he was dead, the attacking policemen dragged Santiago Díaz out of his barbershop.[21] When they realized he was still alive, Santiago Díaz was sent to the local municipal hospital. He was hospitalized with fellow Nationalists Gregorio Hernández (who attacked La Fortaleza, the governor's mansion) and Jesús Pomales González (one of five Nationalists assigned to attack the Federal Court House).[20]
Though not involved in any violent act, she was arrested, along with nationalists Carmen María Pérez Roque and Ruth Mary Reynolds, in November 2, 1950 for participating in a demonstration that turned deadly in Old San Juan when U.S. forces opened fire, and one of the demonstrators was killed. Viscal Garriga was held without bail in La Princesa prison.
During her trial in federal court, 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 for contempt of court (not for the initial "charges" regarding the demonstration), and released after serving five years.[24]
The arrest of Francisco Matos Paoli
Francisco Matos Paoli, one of the island's greatest poets, was nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature. He was also named as Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1949. In this position, his responsibilities included the drafting and delivery of patriotic speeches in favor of Puerto Rican independence. In September 1950, Paoli traveled to the towns of Cabo Rojo, Santurce, Guánica and Lares, in order to participate in Nationalist activities.
On November 2, 1950, the police arrived at Francisco Matos Paoli's home in Río Piedras and searched for guns and explosives, however the only thing they found was a Puerto Rican flag.
Paoli was arrested and accused of violating the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law). The evidence used against him was the Puerto Rican Flag in his residence, and four speeches he had given in favor of Puerto Rican independence.[25]
Paoli was fired from his professorship at the University of Puerto Rico and sentenced to twenty year's imprisonment, which was later reduced to ten. In jail, he shared his cell with Albizu Campos. Campos suffered from ulceration's on his legs and body allegedly caused by radiation and Paoli tended to his needs.[25]
The arrest of Pedro Albizu Campos
During the revolt, Albizu Campos was at the Nationalist Party's headquarters in Old San Juan which also served as his residence. That day he was accompanied by Juan José Muñoz Matos, Doris Torresola Roura (cousin of Blanca Canales and sister of Griselio Torresola), and Carmen María Pérez Gonzalez.
The occupants of the building were surrounded by the police and the National Guard, who fired their weapons without warning. Doris Torresola, was shot and wounded, and carried out during a cease-fire by Muñoz Matos and Pérez Gonzalez.
Alvaro Rivera Walker, a friend of Albizu Campos, somehow made his way to the Nationalist leader. He stayed with Albizu Campos until the next day, when they were attacked with tear gas. Rivera Walker then raised a white towel attached to a pole, and they surrendered. At that point the National Guard dragged Albizu Campos from his home. He had been rendered unconscious by the tear gas. All the Nationalists, including Albizu Campos, were arrested.[26]
Incarcerated Nationalists
The following is an FBI list of the San Juan Nationalists who were incarcerated in 1950, and were still in prison as of 1954:[27]
To view live-action Newsreel scenes and photos of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s (with commentary in Spanish), click here
United States law mandated that U.S. President Harry Truman take direct charge in all matters concerning Puerto Rico. In addition, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín was required to consult directly with the White House.[28] News of the military action involved however, was prevented from spreading outside of Puerto Rico. It was called an "incident between Puerto Ricans."[29][30]
Pomales, Hernández and Santiago were hospitalized at the municipal hospital and recovered from their wounds. Pomales was released after six months, accused of three counts of attempted murder, and sentenced to 15 years. Hernández was accused of two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years. Nationalists Carlos Padilla, Diego Quiñones González, Juan Sandoval Ramos, Joaquín Padín Concepción and Vidal Santiago were also sentenced to various years of prison. After two years, Santiago was eventually pardoned and released.[20]
Paoli was released on January 16, 1952, on probation. During his confinement he suffered from hallucinations which resulted in a mental breakdown and he was sent to a Psychiatric hospital. In 1977, the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Puerto Rico campus in Mayagüez nominated him for the Nobel Prize in literature in recognition of his substantial contribution to world literature.
The top leaders of the nationalist party were arrested, including Albizu Campos and the leader of the Jayuya Uprising Blanca Canales, and sent to jail to serve long prison terms. On November 1, 1950, nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attacked the Blair House with the intention of assassinating U.S. President Truman. Torresola and White House police officer Leslie Coffelt lost their lives in the failed attempt. Collazo was arrested and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment by President Truman, and he eventually received a presidential pardon.[31]
Pedro Albizu Campos was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and a leading figure in the Puerto Rican independence movement. He was the president and spokesperson of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico from 1930 until his death. He led the nationalist revolts of October 1950 against the United States government in Puerto Rico. Albizu Campos spent a total of twenty-six years in prison at various times for his Puerto Rican independence activities.
The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico is a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal is to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The Party's selection in 1930 of Pedro Albizu Campos as its president brought a radical change to the organization and its tactics.
Griselio Torresola Roura born in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, was one of two Puerto Rican nationalists from New York City who attempted to assassinate United States President Harry Truman on November 1, 1950. Torresola mortally wounded White House policeman Private Leslie Coffelt and wounded two other law enforcement officers. Torresola was killed by a return shot from Coffelt.
Blanca Canales was an educator and a Puerto Rican Nationalist. Canales joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1931 and helped organize the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
The Jayuya Uprising, also known as Jayuya Revolt or Cry of Jayuya, was a Nationalist insurrection that took place on October 30, 1950, in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. The insurrection, led by Blanca Canales, was one of the multiple insurrections that occurred throughout Puerto Rico on that day against the Puerto Rican government supported by the United States. The insurrectionists were opposed to US sovereignty over Puerto Rico.
The Río Piedras massacre occurred on October 24, 1935, at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. Puerto Rico Police officers confronted and opened fire on supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Four Nationalist Party members were killed, and one police officer was wounded during the shooting.
On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican pro-independence activists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman at the Blair House during the renovation of the White House. Both men were stopped before gaining entry to the house. Torresola mortally wounded White House Police officer Leslie Coffelt, who killed him in return fire. Secret Service agents wounded Collazo. Truman was upstairs in the house and not harmed.
Rosa Collazo a.k.a. Rosa Cortez-Collazo was a political activist and treasurer of the New York City branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was the wife of Oscar Collazo one of two Nationalists who attacked Blair House in 1950 in an attempt to kill President Harry Truman. She was accused by the FBI of assisting Nationalists Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irvin Flores and Andres Figueroa Cordero in their assault on the United States House of Representatives in 1954. She was charged on both occasions with seditious conspiracy for her complicity in a conspiracy to overthrow the United States Government and imprisoned because of her political beliefs.
The Utuado uprising, also known as the Utuado revolt or El Grito de Utuado, refers to the revolt against the United States government in Puerto Rico which occurred on October 30, 1950, in the town of Utuado. There were simultaneous revolts in various other towns in Puerto Rico, including the capital of San Juan and the cities of Mayaguez and Arecibo, plus major confrontations in the city of Ponce and the towns of Peñuelas and Jayuya.
The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party insurgency was a series of coordinated insurrections for the secession of Puerto Rico led by the president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, against the United States government's rule over the islands of Puerto Rico. The party repudiated the "Free Associated State" status that had been enacted in 1950 and which the Nationalists considered a continuation of colonialism.
Francisco Matos Paoli, was a Puerto Rican poet, critic, and essayist who in 1977 was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His books were rooted in three major literary movements in Latin America: Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism.
Isolina Rondón was a political activist. She was one of the few witnesses of the killing of four Nationalists committed by local police officers in Puerto Rico during a confrontation with the supporters of the Nationalist Party that occurred on October 24, 1935, and which is known as the Río Piedras massacre. Rondón joined the political movement and became the Treasurer of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party which staged various uprisings in Puerto Rico against the colonial Government of the United States in 1950.
Isabel Rosado, also known as Doña Isabelita, was an educator, social worker, activist and member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Influenced by the events of the Ponce massacre, Rosado became a believer of the Puerto Rican independence movement and was imprisoned because of her commitment to the cause.
Vidal Santiago Díaz was a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and served as president of the Santurce Municipal Board of officers of the party. He was also the personal barber of Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos. Though not involved in the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s, Santiago Díaz's barbershop was attacked by forty armed police officers and U.S. National Guardsmen. The attack was historic in Puerto Rico—the first time an event of that magnitude had ever been transmitted live via radio and heard all over the island.
Ruth Mary Reynolds was an American educator, political and civil rights activist who embraced the ideals of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was incarcerated in La Princesa Prison for sedition during the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s. As one of the founders of the organization known as the "American League for Puerto Rico's Independence," she devoted many years of her life to the cause of Puerto Rico's independence from the United States after her release from prison.
Raimundo Díaz Pacheco was a political activist and the Treasurer General of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. He was also commander-in-chief of the Cadets of the Republic, the official youth organization within the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. This quasi-military organization was also known as the Ejército Libertador de Puerto Rico.
Cadets of the Republic, known in Spanish as Cadetes de la República, was the paramilitary wing of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the twentieth century. The organization was also referred to as the Liberation Army of Puerto Rico(Ejército Libertador de Puerto Rico)
Tomás López de Victoria (1911–????) was a political activist and the Sub-Commander of the Cadets of the Republic. These cadets were the official youth organization within the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. They were also known as the Ejército Libertador de Puerto Rico.
Law 53 of 1948 better known as the Gag Law, was an act enacted by the Puerto Rico legislature of 1948, with the purpose of suppressing the independence movement in Puerto Rico. The act made it a crime to own or display a Puerto Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to speak or write of independence, or to meet with anyone or hold any assembly in favor of Puerto Rican independence. It was passed by a legislature that was overwhelmingly dominated by members of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), which supported developing an alternative political status for the island. The bill was signed into law on June 10, 1948 by Jesús T. Piñero, the United States-appointed governor. Opponents tried but failed to have the law declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.
Elías Beauchamp was a member of the Cadets of the Republic, the paramilitary wing of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Beauchamp is best known for having assassinated Col. Elisha Francis Riggs, the United States appointed chief of the Puerto Rico Police, along with fellow Cadet Hiram Rosado. Both men were arrested and shot without trial, officially while attempting to escape, at Police Headquarters in San Juan. News of the assassinations spread throughout the United States and led to legislative proposal by U.S. Senator Millard Tydings, to grant independence to Puerto Rico.
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