Passage of Law 53
In 1948, a bill was introduced before the Puerto Rican Senate which authorized the repeated arrest of Albizu Campos, and a round-the-clock surveillance of every Nationalist in Puerto Rico. The Senate at the time was controlled by the PPD and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín.
The bill, known as Law 53 and the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law), passed the legislature on May 21, 1948 and was signed into law on June 10, 1948, by the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico Jesús T. Piñero. It closely resembled the anti-communist Smith Law passed in the United States - and it created as much chaos on the island, as Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee did, on the mainland U.S.
Under this law it became a crime to own or display a Puerto Rican flag anywhere, even in one's own home. It also became a crime to speak against the U.S. government; to speak in favor of Puerto Rican independence; 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.
Anyone accused and found guilty of disobeying the law could be sentenced to ten years imprisonment, a fine of $10,000 dollars (US), 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, the law was repressive and in direct violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees Freedom of Speech.
Figueroa pointed out that every living Puerto Rican had been "granted" irrevocable U.S. citizenship, so that they could fight in World War I and other American armed conflicts. As such, from 1917 onward, every Puerto Rican was born with full citizenship, and full U.S. constitutional protections. Therefore Law 53 was unconstitutional, since it violated the First Amendment rights of every Puerto Rican.
Read more about this topic: Pedro Albizu Campos
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