The intellectual José Che Paralitici insisted that Puerto Rico and the United States suffered high repression in the 1930s and 1940s, with dozens of prisoners, and 30 fighters killed, in 1950 to send a message to the Nationalists. started a rebellion. In a world of dominant colonial order.
The author of several books about the resistance of the Puerto Rican people to the colonial dominance of the United States, which originated in the framework of the Spanish-American-Cuban War of July 25, 1898, Paralitici explained that the nationalist leadership was in 1930. imprisoned from the middle of the next decade to the end of the next decade.
“There were also five Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico (PNPR) demonstrations in United States prisons during the 1940s, when they were accused of violating a law of compulsory military service imposed by the US regime during World War II. was alleged”. Detailed.
Paralitici stated that, in 1948, two years before the nationalist uprising, “the Puerto Rican colonial government enacted Law 53, which the people called the Gag Law, which violated human and civil rights, including “expressions of any kind”. was not allowed. Colonial and Imperialist Regime of the United States of America”.
Then, in 1950, the United States enacted Law 600 with the intention of Puerto Rico, approving whether or not they agreed to draft their own constitution for Puerto Rico, which resulted in the Commonwealth (ELA) in 1952. ) was created.
“Led by Pedro Albizu Campos, the Nationalist Party, with the support of the colonial government led by Luis Muoz Marín (1898–1980), immediately condemned the spectacle imposed by the United States, that Puerto Rico would thus end colonialism. system ”said the historian.
Albizu Campos and the Nationalists – they said – did not stop and decided to carry out the plan for the uprising, which led to the uprising on October 30, 1950, in several cities and regions of Puerto Rico, as well as in the United States. Also the state, where Gricelio Torresola and Oscar Collazo participated in an assassination attempt against President Harry S. Truman at Blair House in Washington.
“More than 140 Nationalists took up arms in 10 cities and in various areas of the San Juan metropolitan area, as well as in the United States, such as the capital, Washington and New York City,” Paralitici confirmed.
He said the insurgent action lasted until 10 November, when the last rebel was arrested in Naranjito (centre).
In a confrontation in Puerto Rico between Puerto Rican nationalists, police and the United States National Guard, about 30 people were killed and more than 50 were injured.
Similarly, Paralitici said that over a thousand people had been arrested since the first day of the uprising, most of them imprisoned for more than a week for alleged preventive reasons.
In addition, more than 180 Puerto Rican nationalists directly linked to the insurgent actions were imprisoned and more than 200 were also charged with violating the “gag law”.
As a result, Puerto Rico’s colonial regime sentenced 53 nationalists to life imprisonment, 31 of them from the city of Jayuya (centre), where leader Blanca Canales proclaimed the Republic of Puerto Rico by raising the national flag, which was banned. was done. ,
“The conflict lasted two days in Juya, and the Nationalists managed to set fire to public, federal and private structures, (such as) the police station, the federal post office, and the Selective Service offices, which were in charge of recruiting young people from the United States. America’s military,” explained Paralytici.
Albizu Campos, the main leader of the rebellion, was released from prison a few months before his death on April 21, 1965, when he was pardoned by Muoz Marín, because “it would have been too politically costly for the governor of the colony”. Puerto Rico said that the nationalist leader had died in prison due to very poor health.
JCM/NRM
