Jayuya Uprising - Uprising

Uprising

From 1949 to 1950, the Nationalists in the island planned and prepared 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 Estado Libre Associado ("Free Associated State") political status for Puerto Rico.

Albizu Campos called for an armed revolution because he considered the "new political status" to be a colonial farce. Campos picked the town of Jayuya as the headquarters of the revolution because of its location and because weapons were stored in the home of Blanca Canales.

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. On October 30, the Nationalists staged uprisings in the towns of Ponce, Mayagüez, Naranjito, Arecibo, Utuado (Utuado Uprising), San Juan (San Juan Nationalist revolt), and Jayuya.

The first incident of the Nationalist uprisings occurred in the pre-dawn hours of October 29. The Insular Police of that town surrounded the house of the mother of Melitón Muñiz Santos, president of the Peñuelas Nationalist Party, in barrio Macaná, under the pretext that he was storing weapons for the Nationalist Revolt there. Without warning, the police fired on the house and a gunfight ensued. Two Nationalists were killed and six police officers were wounded. 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.

Prior to the call for revolution, members of the Nationalist Party had stored weapons in Canales' house in Jayuya. Canales and the other leaders of the Nationalist Party in Jayuya, which included Canales' cousin and Elio Torresola (Griselio Torresola's brother) as well as Carlos Irizarry, led the armed Nationalists into the town and invaded the police station. Shots were fired, one officer was killed, three were wounded, and the other officers surrendered. The Nationalists cut the telephone lines and burned the U.S. post office. Canales then led the group into the town square where, in defiance of the Puerto Rico Gag Law, they raised the Puerto Rican Flag. In the town square, Canales gave a speech and declared Puerto Rico a free Republic.

The U.S. begged to differ. U.S. President Harry S. Truman declared martial law and ordered the U.S. Army and Air Force to attack the town of Jayuya. This was the 1st time in the twentieth century when U.S. military force was used against its own citizens (Since 1917 the residents of Puerto Rico have been natural born U.S. citizens). American infantry troops and the National Guard used P-47 Thunderbolt bomber planes, land-based artillery, mortar fire, and grenades in the attack. The planes machine-gunned nearly every rooftop in the town and, while the Nationalists managed to hold the town for three days, mass arrests followed.

Although an extensive part of Jayuya was destroyed, news of the American military action were prevented from spreading outside of Puerto Rico. Instead, the American media reported it as "an incident between Puerto Ricans".

In response to American attack, Nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola planned for the assassination of U.S. President Harry S. Truman. On November 1, 1950, they attacked the Blair House, where Truman was staying in Washington, D.C. The attempt failed, and Torresola and White House police officer Leslie Coffelt were killed in the attempt.