BY FRANKLIN RANGEL The people of Puerto Rico have never had the chance to fully self-govern. Although the relationship between Puerto Rico and the US has changed over the 120+ years since the Spanish crown ruled, one thing has remained consistent: the US has never let its territory free from its domain. The island is considered to be a commonwealth, the mainland government recognizes that Puerto Rico is still ruled like an unincorporated territory (1). Puerto Ricans still cannot vote in presidential elections, negotiate trade deals, or maintain their citizenship. And there are scant options for the people. Puerto Ricans virtually no longer have the option to fight for freedom from the US. The persecution of the Nationalist movement by the US and the Governor’s office in the twentieth century has led to the independence movement in Puerto Rico becoming irrelevant, resulting in most of the island voting for statehood. Although the Nationalist Party in Puerto Rico was founded in 1922, the real first impact made by the group came at the hands of an agricultural strike, inspiring acts of violence committed by the authorities. In January 1934, workers at the United Porto Rico Sugar Company revolted and went on strike for better pay. Pedro Albizu Campos, the president of the Nationalist Party, spoke to the striking workers, and then represented them in court, eventually leading to the workers doubling their wages (2). The response by the government, however, was ferocious. “The FBI initiated round-theclock surveillance of the Nationalist leadership. An additional 115 Insular Police were armed with carbines, submachine guns, and grenades (3). Police PAGE 10 VOL. 2, NO. 1 ZEITGEIST killed four Nationalists in Río Piedras and executed two others in front of the San Juan Police Headquarters (4). The FBI and the Insular police were already motivated to target the Nationalists, and the deadliest day in this struggle was still to take place. On March 21, 1937, the Nationalists gained permits to hold a parade in the mid-sized city of Ponce. The procession marched up until the corner of Calles Marina and Aurora. They had gathered to commemorate the end of slavery on the island in 1873 and to protest the imprisonment of Pedro Albizu Campos (3). When they got to that corner, the mayor and the captain of the Insular police stepped up to them and announced that the parade license had been revoked. The governor at the time, Blanton Winship, a US-appointed former military, had revoked the license and told the police chief to vastly increase the presence in Ponce. The paraders found that around two hundred police officers had surrounded them, submachine guns drawn (4). After a short argument, the first shot rang out. By the end of the chaos, nineteen people lay dead. A majority of them had been shot in the back (5), and two Insular officers had been killed in the crossfire. After the fact, the chief of police staged a photo in an effort to convince the public that the police were simply returning fire (6). Families of those slain were forced to give affidavits contradicting what actually happened, and no one other than the Governor was removed from office (two years after the fact). All of this shows just how much the mainland government wanted the Nationalists silenced. But this was a two-pronged attack. The mainland press skewed their reporting of the massacre to serve the cause of discrediting the Nationalists. Take the staged photos from Colonel Orbeta for example. The photo was depicted in many Puerto Rican newspapers, even appearing on
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