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Blanca Canales (February 17, 1906 – July 25, 1996) was an educator and a
Puerto Rican Nationalist Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to obtain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire from 1493 to 1898 and since then from the United States. A spectrum of pro- autonomy, ...
. Canales joined the
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico ( es, Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico, PNPR) is a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal is to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The P ...
in 1931 and helped organize the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. As a leader of the Nationalist party in
Jayuya Jayuya (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the mountainous center region of the island, north of Ponce; east of Utuado; and west of Ciales. Jayuya is spread over 10 barrios and Jayuya Pueblo (the downtown and administra ...
, she stored arms in her house, which were used in a revolt in 1950 against United States rule over the island. During the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s she led members in the
Jayuya Uprising The Jayuya Uprising, also known as the Jayuya Revolt or El Grito de Jayuya, was a Nationalist insurrection that took place on October 30, 1950, in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. The insurrection, led by Blanca Canales, was one of the multiple i ...
, in which Nationalists took control of the town for three days.


Early years

Canales was born in
Jayuya, Puerto Rico Jayuya (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the mountainous center region of the island, north of Ponce; east of Utuado; and west of Ciales. Jayuya is spread over 10 barrios and Jayuya Pueblo (the downtown and administr ...
, as Blanca Canales Torresola. She was the younger sister of writer and politician
Nemesio Canales Nemesio Canales (December 18, 1878 – September 14, 1923) was a Puerto Rican essayist, journalist, novelist, playwright, politician and activist who defended women's civil rights. As a politician, he presented a bill to the Puerto Rico House of ...
. Her family was politically active and her father was part of the " Partido Unión de Puerto Rico" (Union Party of Puerto Rico). It lobbied for the independence of the island. Her mother was a strong-willed woman who encouraged her children to think for themselves.Anonymous, "Blanca Canales"
Peace Host website (Spanish), n.d.
As a child, Canales read many books and stories about other nations and their heroes. She often accompanied her father to political meetings, where she enjoyed the speeches, flag-waving, and patriotic fervor. Canales finished her primary and secondary education in Jayuya. In 1924, her father died and her mother moved to Ponce. Canales graduated from
Ponce High School The Ponce High School is public educational institution in Ponce, Puerto Rico, offering grades nine through twelve. The school's main building is a historic structure located on Cristina Street, in the Ponce Historic Zone. From its beginning t ...
and, in May 1930, earned her bachelor's degree from the
University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...
. Before graduating, she attended a conference given by the President of the
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico ( es, Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico, PNPR) is a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal is to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The P ...
,
Pedro Albizu Campos Pedro Albizu Campos (September 12, 1891Luis Fortuño Janeiro. ''Album Histórico de Ponce (1692–1963).'' p. 290. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Imprenta Fortuño. 1963. – April 21, 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney and politician, and the leading fi ...
, and was impressed by the ideals of independence which he preached. Canales returned to the university that same year, and took a course of study in social work.


Nationalist Party

Canales returned to Jayuya and worked at a local rural school. In 1931, she joined the Nationalist Party and was active in organizing the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. During the 1940s, Canales' active political participation was limited to making monetary collections because her job kept her constantly traveling from San Juan to Ponce. After Canales joined the party, a series of increasingly hostile events between the U.S.-appointed government and the Nationalists took place in the 1930s. In 1936, Albizu Campos was arrested and on March 31, 1937 the infamous
Ponce massacre The Ponce massacre was an event that took place on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, when a peaceful civilian march turned into a police shooting in which 19 civilians and two policemen were killed, and more than 200 civilians ...
took place. In 1947, Albizu Campos was released from jail.


Puerto Rican Gag Law

On May 21, 1948, a bill was introduced before the
Puerto Rican Senate The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control t ...
which would restrain the rights of the independence and Nationalist movements on the
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
. The Senate, which at the time was controlled by the ''Partido Popular Democrático'' ( PPD) and presided by
Luis Muñoz Marín José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898April 30, 1980) was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, statesman and was the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, regarded as the "Architect of the Puerto Rico Commonwealth." In 1948 he ...
, approved the bill that day. This bill, which resembled the anti-communist
Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of th ...
passed in the United States in 1940, became known as the ''Ley de la Mordaza'' ( Gag Law, technically "Law 53 of 1948") when the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico,
Jesús T. Piñero Jesús T. Piñero Jiménez (April 16, 1897 – November 19, 1952) was the first and only native Puerto Rican to be appointed governor of Puerto Rico by the Government of the United States. Early years Jesús Toribio Piñero Jiménez was born i ...
, signed it into law on June 10, 1948. Under this new law it became a crime 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. It made it illegal to sing a patriotic song, and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the
Flag of Puerto Rico The flag of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Bandera de Puerto Rico) represents and symbolizes Puerto Rico and its people. The origins of the current flag of Puerto Rico, adopted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952, can be traced to 1868, whe ...
, with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 (), or both. According to
Leopoldo Figueroa Leopoldo Figueroa (September 21, 1887 – October 15, 1969) a.k.a. "The deacon of the Puerto Rican Legislature", was a Puerto Rican politician, journalist, medical doctor and lawyer. Figueroa, who began his political career as an advocate of Puer ...
, member of the ''
Partido Estadista Puertorriqueño Partido Estadista Puertorriqueño (English: ''Puerto Rican Statehood Party)'' 948 - 1952was a political party in Puerto Rico that existed from 1948 to 1952. The party resulted when Partido Unión Republicana Progresista ceased to exist in 1948 ...
'' (Puerto Rican Statehood Party) and the only member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives who did not belong to the PPD, the law was repressive and in violation of the First Amendment of the
US Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...
which guarantees
Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
.La Gobernación de Jesús T. Piñero y la Guerra Fría
/ref> On June 21, 1948, Albizu Campos gave a speech in the town of Manati, which explained how this Gag Law violated the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
of the U.S. Constitution. Nationalists from all over the island attended – to hear Campos's speech, and to prevent the police from arresting him.


Police repression

On October 26, 1950, Albizu Campos held a political meeting in
Fajardo Fajardo (, ) is a town and municipality -Fajardo Combined Statistical Area. Fajardo is the hub of much of the recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. It is ...
. After the meeting Albizu Campos received word that he was going to be arrested and that his house in San Juan was surrounded by the police. 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 were ordered to stage uprisings in the towns of Ponce, Mayagüez, Naranjito,
Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, the ...
, Utuado, San Juan and Jayuya. The first battle of the Nationalist uprisings occurred in the pre-dawn hours of October 29, in the ''barrio'' Macaná in the town of Peñuelas. The police surrounded the house of the mother of Melitón Muñiz the president of the Peñuelas Nationalist Party, under the pretext that he was storing weapons for the Nationalist Revolt. Without warning, the police fired upon the nationalists and a firefight between both factions ensued, which resulted with the death of two nationalists and six police officers wounded.El ataque Nacionalista a La Fortaleza; by Pedro Aponte Vázquez; Page 7; Publisher: Publicaciones RENÉ;


Jayuya uprising

On October 30, 1950, the Nationalist leaders in Jayuya – including Canales, her cousin Elio Torresola ( Griselio Torresola's brother) and Carlos Irizarry – entered the town of Jayuya with a group of nationalists in a bus and a car. Canales led the group to her house in ''Barrio Coabey,'' a neighborhood of Jayuya, where she had been stockpiling arms and ammunition.Miñi Seijo Bruno; ''The Nationalist Insurrection in Puerto Rico,'' pp. 121-127; Editorial Crelisa, 1989; Federico Ribes Tovar, ''Albizu Campos: Puerto Rican Revolutionary,'' p. 106; Plus Ultra Publishers, 1971 Armed with the weapons she had stored, Canales and the men attacked and occupied the police station. The Nationalists then occupied the post office, approached the telephone station, and cut the phone lines.''El Vocero''; March 3, 1979; p. 6 Canales led the group to the town plaza, raised the
Puerto Rican Flag The flag of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Bandera de Puerto Rico) represents and symbolizes Puerto Rico and its people. The origins of the current flag of Puerto Rico, adopted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952, can be traced to 1868, whe ...
(which was outlawed at the time), and declared Puerto Rico a Free Republic.Remember the 1950 Uprising of October 30: Puerto Rico
/ref> After being notified that Carlos Irizarry was wounded, Canales hurried to the town hospital but the police had shut down the hospital, and she found Irizarry leaning against a lamp post. He had been wounded in a gunfight at the police station. Canales rushed him to a hospital in Utuado, the neighboring town. Jayuya was under Nationalist control for three days until it was attacked by U.S military planes, artillery, mortar fire, grenades, U.S. infantry troops, and the Puerto Rican National Guard commanded by the
Puerto Rico Adjutant General The Puerto Rico Adjutant General ( es, Ayudante General de Puerto Rico) is the Commander of the Puerto Rico National Guard. As the Adjutant General he is also the Senior Military Advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico and oversees both State and ...
Major General Luis R. Estéves, which occupied the town. The Nationalists surrendered on November 1, 1950. Canales was arrested and accused of killing a police officer, wounding three others, and burning down the post office. Following a brief federal trial, she was sentenced to life imprisonment ''plus'' sixty years. In June 1951, she was sent to the
Alderson Federal Prison Camp The Federal Prison Camp, Alderson (FPC Alderson) is a minimum-security United States federal prison for female inmates in West Virginia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. F ...
in
Alderson, West Virginia Alderson is a town in Greenbrier and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, on both sides of the Greenbrier River. The population was 975 at the 2020 census. History Alderson is a community located along the Greenbrier River in ...
. In prison she developed a close friendship with fellow nationalist
Lolita Lebrón Lolita Lebrón (November 19, 1919 – August 1, 2010) was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of attempted murder and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wound ...
, who led the 1954 Nationalist attack on the US House of Representatives, and
Rosa Collazo Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) *Rosa (surname) *wiktionary:Santa_Rosa, Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Ger ...
, the wife of
Oscar Collazo Oscar Collazo (January 20, 1914 – February 21, 1994) was one of two Puerto Rican militants of the Nationalist Party who on November 1, 1950, attempted to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman in Washington, DC. He had been living i ...
and treasurer of the New York City branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.


Later years

In 1956, Canales was transferred to the Women's Jail in
Vega Alta, Puerto Rico Vega Alta () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico. Vega Alta is on the northern coast of the island, north of Morovis and Corozal; east of Vega Baja; and west of Dorado with an area of . Vega Alta is subdivided into seven barrios and Ve ...
. In 1967, after 17 years in prison, Canales was given a full pardon by Puerto Rican Governor
Roberto Sanchez Vilella The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
. She continued to be an active independence advocate until the day she died. Canales died in 1996 in her hometown of Jayuya. She is buried in the "Cementerio Municipal" (Municipal Cemetery) in her hometown Jayuya.


Legacy

The house in which Blanca and Nemesio Canales were born and raised was turned into a museum by the City of Jayuya. A plaque was placed at the monument to the
Jayuya Uprising The Jayuya Uprising, also known as the Jayuya Revolt or El Grito de Jayuya, was a Nationalist insurrection that took place on October 30, 1950, in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. The insurrection, led by Blanca Canales, was one of the multiple i ...
participants in
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Mayagüez (, ) is a city and the eighth-largest municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, and is also known as ''La Sultana del Oeste'' (The Sultaness of the West), ''Ciudad de las Aguas Pura ...
, honoring the women of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Canales' name is on the second line of the third plate.


See also

* List of Puerto Ricans *
History of women in Puerto Rico The recorded history of Puerto Rican women can trace its roots back to the era of the ''Taíno'', the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who inhabited the island that they called "Boriken" before the arrival of Spaniards. During the Spanish c ...
19th Century female leaders of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement *
María de las Mercedes Barbudo María de las Mercedes Barbudo (1773 – February 17, 1849) was a Puerto Rican political activist, the first woman ''Independentista'' in the island, and a "Freedom Fighter".
*
Lola Rodríguez de Tió Lola Rodríguez de Tió,This name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the maiden family name ''"Rodríguez"'' and the second or matrimonial family name is ''"Tió"''. (September 14, 1843 – November 10, 1924), was the first Puerto ...
*
Mariana Bracetti Mariana Bracetti Cuevas (also spelled Bracety) (1825–1903) was a patriot and leader of the Puerto Rico independence movement in the 1860s. She is attributed with having knitted the flag that was intended to be used as the national emblem of Pue ...
Female members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party *
Julia de Burgos Julia de Burgos García (February 17, 1914 – July 6, 1953) was a Puerto Rican poet. As an advocate of Puerto Rican independence, she served as Secretary General of the Daughters of Freedom, the women's branch of the Puerto Rican National ...
*
Rosa Collazo Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) *Rosa (surname) *wiktionary:Santa_Rosa, Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Ger ...
*
Lolita Lebrón Lolita Lebrón (November 19, 1919 – August 1, 2010) was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of attempted murder and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wound ...
*
Ruth Mary Reynolds Ruth Mary Reynolds (February 29, 1916 – December 2, 1989) was an American educator, political and civil rights activist who embraced the ideals of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was incarcerated in ''La Princesa'' Prison for sedi ...
*
Isabel Rosado Isabel Rosado (November 5, 1907 – January 13, 2015), a.k.a. Doña Isabelita, was an educator, social worker, activist and member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Influenced by the events of the Ponce massacre, Rosado became a believer of ...
*
Isabel Freire de Matos Isabel Freire de MatosThis name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the woman's maiden family name '' "Freire"'' and the second, or matrimonial, family name is ''"de Matos"''. (February 2, 1915 – September 30, 2004) was a writer ...
*
Isolina Rondón Isolina Rondón (April 11, 1913 – October 2, 1990) was a political activist. She was one of the few witnesses of the killing of four Nationalists committed by local police officers in Puerto Rico during a confrontation with the supporters of th ...
*
Olga Viscal Garriga Olga Isabel Viscal Garriga (May 5, 1929 – June 1995) was a public orator and political activist. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she moved to Puerto Rico, where she was a student leader and spokesperson of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party's ...
Articles related to the Puerto Rican Independence Movement * Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s *
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico ( es, Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico, PNPR) is a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal is to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The P ...
*
Ponce massacre The Ponce massacre was an event that took place on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, when a peaceful civilian march turned into a police shooting in which 19 civilians and two policemen were killed, and more than 200 civilians ...
*
Río Piedras massacre The Río Piedras massacre occurred on October 24, 1935, at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. Puerto Rico Police officers confronted and opened fire on supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Four Nationalist Party members w ...
*
Cadets of the Republic Cadets of the Republic, known in Spanish as Cadetes de la República, was the paramilitary wing of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in the twentieth century. The organization was also referred to as the Liberation Army of Puerto Rico ''(Ejérc ...
*
Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party ( es, Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, PIP) is a social-democratic political party in Puerto Rico that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. Those who follow the PIP ...
*
Grito de Lares ''El Grito de Lares'' (''The Cry of Lares''), also referred to as the Lares uprising, the Lares revolt, the Lares rebellion, or the Lares revolution, was the first major revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico. The revolt was planned by Ra ...
*
Intentona de Yauco The ''Intentona de Yauco'' (the "Attempted Coup of Yauco") of March 1897 was the second and final major revolt against Spanish colonial rule in Puerto Rico, staged by the island's pro-independence movement in the second half of the nineteenth ce ...


Notes


References


Further reading

*"War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony"; Author:
Nelson Antonio Denis Nelson Antonio Denis is an American attorney, author, film director, and former representative to the New York State Assembly. From 1997 through 2000, Denis represented New York (state), New York's 68th Assembly district, which includes the East ...
; Publisher: Nation Books (April 7, 2015); ; .


External links


Blanca Canales


{{DEFAULTSORT:Canales, Blanca 1906 births 1996 deaths People from Jayuya, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people of Spanish descent Puerto Rican Nationalist Party politicians Puerto Rican rebels Members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Puerto Rican women in the military 20th-century Puerto Rican women politicians 20th-century Puerto Rican politicians Imprisoned Puerto Rican independence activists Puerto Rican independence activists Female revolutionaries