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Marcos Xiorro was the slave name of an enslaved African in Spanish Puerto Rico who, in 1821, planned and conspired to lead a slave revolt against the sugarcane plantation owners and the Spanish Colonial government. Although his rebellion was unsuccessful, he achieved legendary status among the island's slave population and has become part of Puerto Rican folklore.


Early years

It is not known when Xiorro was born or from what people and region in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
he came from. What is known about him is that he was a ''
Bozal Bozal Spanish is a possible extinct Spanish-based creole language or pidgin that may have been a mixture of Spanish and Kikongo, with Portuguese influences. Attestation is insufficient to indicate whether Bozal Spanish was ever a single, coheren ...
'' slave, who had been recently brought to the Spanish
colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...
of Puerto Rico directly from Africa. Xiorro was owned by Vicente Andino, a Militia Captain who owned a sugar plantation in the municipality of Bayamón.Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873
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False rumors of freedom

In 1812, Salvador Meléndez Bruna, the governor of Puerto Rico, ordered that any slave who disrespected his master would be punished with fifty lashes by the civil authorities — and then returned to his master for additional punishment. A 100-lashes punishment was given to those who committed a violent act or incited a rebellion.
Ramón Power y Giralt Captain Ramón Power y Giralt (October 7, 1775 – June 10, 1813), commonly known as Ramón Power, was, according to Puerto Rican historian Lidio Cruz Monclova, among the first native-born Puerto Ricans to refer to himself as a " Puerto Rican" a ...
was a Puerto Rican naval hero, a captain in the Spanish navy who had risen to become president of the Spanish Courts. Power Y Giralt was among the delegates who proposed that slavery be abolished in Puerto Rico. He sent a letter to his mother, Josefa Giralt, suggesting that if the proposals were approved, she should be the first one to grant her slaves their freedom.Slave revolt
/ref> Although these proposals were never discussed in sessions of the Spanish Courts, Josefa Giralt's slaves learned about the letter and, believing that slavery had been abolished, they spread the "news" that they were free. A slave named Benito contributed to the rumor by circulating the mistaken news that the ''Cortes Generales y Extraordinarias de la Nacion'' (General and Extraordinary Courts of the Nation) had granted slaves their freedom. These false rumors led to various confrontations between the slaves, the military and the slave masters.


Xiorro's conspiracy

In July 1821, Xiorro planned and organized a conspiracy against the slave masters and the colonial government. This was to be carried out on July 27, during the religious festival celebrations dedicated to Santiago ( St. James). According to his plan, several slaves were to escape from various plantations in Bayamón, which included the haciendas of Angus McBean, Cornelius Kortright, Miguel Andino and Fernando Fernández. They were to proceed to the sugarcane fields of Miguel Figueres, and retrieve
cutlass A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of ...
es and swords which had been hidden in those fields. Xiorro, together with Mario, a slave from the McBean plantation, and another slave named Narciso, would lead the slaves from Toa Baja and together with the slaves from Bayamón would capture the City of Bayamón. They would burn the city and kill all the those who were Caucasians. After this, they planned to unite with slaves from the adjoining towns of
Río Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for " river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, ...
,Rio Piedras at the time was a town and not part of San Juan
Guaynabo Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is sprea ...
, and Palo Seco. With this
critical mass In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fi ...
of slaves, all armed and emboldened from a series of quick victories, they would invade the capital city of
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
, where they would declare Xiorro their king.


Failure of the conspiracy

Miguel Figueres had a loyal slave named Ambrosio who told him about the plans for the rebellion. The
whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
also had both personal and financial interests, as the colony rewarded slaves who reported any kind of slave conspiracy by granting them freedom and paying 500 pesos.Africana-Puerto Rico
/ref> Figueres then informed the mayor of Bayamón of the planned rebellion. The mayor proceeded to mobilize 500 soldiers for the defense of the city. They pursued the slaves, quickly capturing the ringleaders and followers of the conspiracy. A total of 61 slaves were imprisoned in Bayamón and
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
.


Aftermath

By August 15, 1821, the court trials against the conspirators were completed. A total of 17 slaves were punished, and Mario and Narciso, considered to be ringleaders, were both executed. Xiorro was captured on August 14 in the city of Mayagüez. He was tried separately and his fate is unknown, but he was most likely executed. The Spanish authorities believed that Jean-Pierre Boyer, the president of Haiti, which had gained independence in 1804, following a slave rebellion, contributed to Xiorro's conspiracy. In the years that followed, many of the slaves who had been imprisoned and returned to their masters later escaped from their plantations. During the years of slavery there were other minor revolts. Some slaves even participated in El Grito de Lares, Puerto Rico's independence revolt against Spanish rule on September 23, 1868. On March 22, 1873, slavery was finally "abolished" in Puerto Rico but with one significant caveat: the slaves were not fully emancipated — they had to ''buy'' their own freedom at whatever price was set by their current owners. In order to accomplish this, the majority of the freed slaves continued to work for their former masters for some time under a kind of indentured servitude. They received a salary for their labor and slowly purchased their freedom. The government placed a limit on this "buy-back" period and created an insular "Protector's Office" to oversee the transition. Under the new law, former slaves were to remain indentured for a maximum period of three years. After that they would go free. During that three-year period, they could work for their former masters, for other people, or for the state.La abolición de la esclavitud de 1873 en Puerto Rico
Once the three-year period expired, if a slave had any remaining debt, the Protector's Office would pay it with an "indemnity bond" at the discounted value of 23% of the claimed debt. The former slaves earned money by working as shoemakers, by cleaning clothes, or by selling the produce they were allowed to grow in the small patches of land allotted to them by their former masters.
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In the movies

In 2007, Cine del Caribe, S.A. released a film about the slave conspiracy titled '' El Cimarrón,'' starring Pedro Telemaco as Marcos Xiorro.Miguel López Ortiz, '“El Cimarrón” recreará un capítulo brutal de nuestra historia'
PR Pop


Further reading

*''Slave Revolts in Puerto Rico: Conspiracies and Uprisings, 1795-1873;'' by Guillermo A. Baralt; Publisher Markus Wiener Publishers; ,


Note


See also

* List of Puerto Ricans * List of Puerto Ricans of African descent *
African immigration to Puerto Rico African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...
* List of slaves *
Ducoudray Holstein Expedition The Ducoudray Holstein Expedition was an attempt by commercial interests to invade Puerto Rico and declare it the independent ''"Republica Boricua"'' in 1822. In the 1820s there was a plot to invade Puerto Rico, declare its independence from Spa ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xiorro, Marcos House slaves Puerto Rican activists People from Bayamón, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican folklore Spanish slaves 19th-century slaves People who wrote slave narratives Slavery in the Caribbean