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The Jayuya Uprising, also known as the Jayuya Revolt or El Grito de Jayuya, refers to a nationalist revolt in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico which occurred on October 30, 1950. The revolt, led by Blanca Canales, was one of the most notable among the various revolts which occurred that day against the United States government.
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The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was founded on September 17, 1922, by José Coll y Cuchí, a former member of the Union Party, who was elected its first president. Coll y Cuchi wanted radical changes within the economy and social welfare programs of Puerto Rico. In 1924, Pedro Albizu Campos, a lawyer who once served in the U.S. Army during World War I as a Second Lieutenant, joined the party and was named its vice president. He believed that Puerto Rico should be an independent nation even if it meant an armed confrontation.
By 1930, Coll y Cuchi departed from the party over 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 Princesa Jail 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 (under the orders of then US-Appointed Governor Blanton Winship) 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 in the island. The Senate at the time was controlled by the PPD and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín approved the Bill.[2] The Bill, also known as the "Ley de la Mordaza" (gag Law), made it illegal to display a Puerto Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to talk of independence, and to fight for the liberation of the island. The Bill which resembled the anti-communist Smith Law passed in the United States, was signed and made into law on June 10, 1948, by the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero and became known as "Ley 53" (Law 53).[3] In accordance to the new law, it would be a crime to print, publish, sale, to exhibit or organize or to help anyone organize any society, group or assembly of people whose intentions are to paralyze or destroy the insular government. Anyone accused and found guilty of disobeying the law could be sentenced to ten years of prison, be fined $10,000 dollars (US) or both. According to Leopoldo Figueroa, a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, 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.[4]
On June 21, 1948, Albizu Campos gave a speech in the town of Manati where nationalists from all over the island and Jayuya were gathered in case there was an attempt by the police to arrest him. Later that month Campos visited Blanca Canales and her cousins Elio and Griselio Torresola, the nationalist leaders of the town of Jayuya. Griselio soon moved to New York where he met and befriended Oscar Collazo.
From 1949 to 1950, the nationalists in the island began to plan and prepare an armed revolution. The revolution was to take place 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. Albizu Campos picked the town of Jayuya as the headquarters of the revolution because of its location. Weapons were stored in the Canales residence.
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. On October 27, the police in the town of Peñuelas, intercepted and fired upon a caravan of nationalists, killing four.[5] On October 30, the nationalists staged uprisings in the towns of Ponce, Mayagüez, Naranjito, Arecibo, Utuado (Utuado Uprising), San Juan (Nationalist attack of San Juan), and Jayuya. The first incident of the Nationalist uprisings occurred during the early hours of the day of October 29, when the insular police of that town surrounded the house of the mother of Melitón Muñiz Santos, the president of the Peñuelas Nationalist Party in the bario Macaná, under the pretext that he was storing weapons for the Nationalist Revolt. Without warning, the police fired upon the Nationalists in the house and a firefight between both factions ensued, which resulted on the death of two Nationalists and the wounding of six police officers.[6] Nationalists Meliton Muñoz Santos, Roberto Jaume 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.[7][8]
In Jayuya, Canales and the Torresolas led the armed nationalists into the town and attacked the police station. A small battle with the police occurred and one officer was killed and three others wounded before the rest dropped their weapons and surrendered. The nationalists cut the telephone lines and burned the post office. Canales led the group into the town square where the light blue version of the Puerto Rican Flag was raised (it was against US imposed law to carry a Puerto Rican Flag from 1898 to 1952)[9][10]. In the town square, Canales gave a speech and declared Puerto Rico a free Republic. The United States declared martial law in Puerto Rico and sent the Puerto Rico National Guard, a Branch of the US Military, to attack Jayuya. The town was attacked by air by U.S. bomber planes and on land by artillery.[10] Even though an extensive part of the town was destroyed, news of this military action was prevented from spreading outside of Puerto Rico. It was called an incident between Puerto Ricans by the American Media.[10][11] The town was held by the nationalists for three days.
Griselio Torresola was in the United States where, together with fellow nationalist Oscar Collazo, he decided to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. On November 1, 1950, they attacked the Blair House where Torresola and White House police officer Leslie Coffelt lost their lives.
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| Newsreel scenes in Spanish of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s here | |
The top leaders of the nationalist party were arrested, including Albizu Campos and Blanca Canales, and sent to jail to serve long prison terms. Oscar 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. The City of Jayuya converted Blanca Canales house into a historical museum.
The last major attempt by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to draw world attention to Puerto Rico's colonial situation occurred on March 1, 1954, when nationlist leader Lolita Lebrón together with fellow nationalists Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores and Andrés Figueroa Cordero attacked the United States House of Representatives. Lebrón and her comrades were charged with attempted murder and other crimes.[12]
The following is an FBI list of the Jayuya Nationalists who were incarcerated in 1950 and who were still in prison as of 1954[13] :
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"Mundo abierto" (Open world) is a poem written in 1956 by Hugo Margenat where he makes reference to the bombardment of the town of Jayuya by the American military during the Jayuya Uprising.[14]
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Hombre, rechaza el uniforme que denigra. |
Man, reject the uniform that defames. |
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que como una avalancha de blanco estiércol |
that as an avalanche of white manure |
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nuestros tejados en un día de octubre. |
our roofs in a day of October. |
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y a su calor la patria suspiró transformándose |
and to its heat the country sighed being transformed |