HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Río Piedras massacre occurred on October 24, 1935, at the
University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...
in
Río Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Flo ...
.
Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safe ...
officers confronted and opened fire on supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. Four Nationalist Party members were killed, and one police officer was wounded during the shooting.


Prelude to the massacre

In 1931, the U.S.-appointed Governor of Puerto Rico,
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Theodore Roosevelt III ( ; September 13, 1887 – July 12, 1944), often known as Theodore Jr.,Morris, Edmund (1979). ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt''. index.While it was President Theodore Roosevelt who was legally named Theodore Roosevelt Jr ...
, named Dr. Carlos E. Chardón as Chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico. He was the first Puerto Rican to have this position. In 1935, Chardón initiated a project based on the ideas of Luis Muñoz Marín, who at the time was a Senator in the Puerto Rican legislature and a member of the Liberal Party of Puerto Rico. It was known as the Reconstruction of Puerto Rico Project. The plan, which was within the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
criteria established by U.S. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, was well received and became known as ''Plan Chardón.''Dr. Delma S. Arrigoitia, ''Puerto Rico Por Encima de Todo: Vida y Obra de Antonio R. Barcelo, 1868-1938''; p. 292; Publisher: Ediciones Puerto (January 2008); Pedro Albizu Campos, president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, knew that Roosevelt had been implicated as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in helping Secretary Albert Fall of the Department of Interior to arrange for private leasing of Navy oil fields, in what became known as the
Teapot Dome Scandal The Teapot Dome scandal was a political corruption scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Warren G. Harding. It centered on Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall, who had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Do ...
of the 1920s. Albizu Campos worried that ''Plan Chardón'' would strip Puerto Rico of her natural resources. He believed that Chardón had been placed in charge of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) to "Americanize" the university with the support of the Liberal Party. On October 20, 1935, in a political meeting which the Nationalist Party held in the town of Maunabo and which was transmitted by radio, Albizu Campos denounced Chardón, the university deans and the Liberal Party as traitors, saying they wanted to convert the university into an "American" propaganda institution. On October 23, 1935, a group of students at the university who supported Chardón began to collect signatures for a petition to declare Albizu Campos "Student Enemy Number One." In turn, a protest against the group by the pro-Nationalist faction of students denounced Chardón and the Liberal Party as agents of the United States.


Massacre

On October 24, 1935, a student assembly held at the university declared Albizu Campos as ''persona non grata.'' Chardón requested that the governor provide armed
Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safe ...
officers on the university grounds if the situation turned violent. Two police officers spotted a "suspicious-looking vehicle" and asked the driver, Ramón S. Pagán, and his friend Pedro Quiñones, for identification. A struggle ensued, and the police killed Pagán and Quiñones. The local newspaper, ''El Mundo'', reported on October 25 that the day before, observers heard an explosion followed by gunfire; Eduardo Rodríguez Vega and José Santiago Barea were also killed that day.Arrigoitia (2008), ''Puerto Rico Por Encima de Todo'', p. 306 An eyewitness, Isolina Rondón, testified that she saw the police officers shooting at the victims and heard one police officer screaming, "not to let them escape alive." Her testimony was ignored, and no charges were filed against the police officers. The Río Piedras massacre left four men dead.Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico-FBI files
/ref>
testimony, Peace Host


Casualties

The supporters of the Nationalist Party killed during the shooting were: ::* Ramón S. Pagán – Nationalist Party Treasurer ::* Eduardo Rodríguez Vega ::* José Santiago Barea ::* Pedro Quiñones A bystander (not a Nationalist) who was also killed: ::* Juan Muñoz Jiménez Among the wounded were: ::*Dionisio Pearson, a nationalist youth who was later charged with murder, because he participated in the Río Piedras riots. ::*One police officer.


Aftermath

At the time of the massacre, the top-ranking U.S.-appointed police chief on the island was a former U.S. Army
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
named Elisha Francis Riggs. Colonel Elisha Francis Riggs was born in Georgetown in northwest
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, and was appointed Chief of Police of Puerto Rico in 1933, by Blanton Winship, the U.S. appointed governor of Puerto Rico. He was an unpopular police chief, stemming from his decisions to repress the growing
organized labor The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...
movement among sugar cane workers and the Nationalist Pro-Independence Movement. Since the entire
Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safe ...
took their orders from Colonel Riggs, the Nationalist Party considered him responsible for the massacre. On February 23, 1936, Colonel Riggs was assassinated by the Nationalists Hiram Rosado and Elías Beauchamp, both members of the Cadets of the Republic, the
paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
wing of the Nationalist Party. They attacked and fatally shot the police chief as he was returning home after attending
Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
at San Juan's Cathedral. Rosado and Beauchamp were arrested and were either subjected to
summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...
or shot while attempting to escape at
Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safe ...
headquarters in San Juan. Before his death, Beauchamp posed, giving a military salute for a news photographer. News of the assassination spread throughout the United States. The Puerto Rican Senator, Luis Muñoz Marín, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time, was asked by Ernest Gruening, the administrator of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (1935–1937), to publicly condemn Col. Riggs's assassination. Senator Muñoz Marín declined unless he was also allowed to condemn the Puerto Rico Police for allegedly executing the two assassins without trial. Gruening joined US Senator
Millard Tydings Millard Evelyn Tydings (April 6, 1890February 9, 1961) was an American attorney, author, soldier, state legislator, and served as a Democratic Representative and Senator in the United States Congress from Maryland, serving in the House from 1 ...
from Maryland, a Democrat, in a 1943 legislative proposal to grant independence to Puerto Rico. Although the measure was welcomed by every political party in Puerto Rico, including Muñoz's Liberal Party, the senator opposed the measure. Senator Muñoz Marín said that independence would hurt Puerto Rico's economy. He contrasted the proposed bill with the provisions of the
Tydings–McDuffie Act The Philippine Independence Act, or Tydings–McDuffie Act (), is an Act of Congress that established the process for the Philippines, then a US territory, to become an independent country after a ten-year transition period. Under the act, th ...
, which provided independence for the Philippines after a 10-year transition period. Due to his opposition, the bill did not progress in Congress, and Puerto Rico did not receive its political independence from the United States. In 1950, the 81st United States Congress passed legislation to enable the
people of Puerto Rico Puerto Ricans (), most commonly known as Puerto Rico#Etymology, Boricuas, but also occasionally referred to as '':es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general, Borinqueños'', '':es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general, Borincan ...
to organize a local government pursuant to a constitution of their own, comparable to those of other territories and states of the United States. From its enactment until this day, the act has served as the
organic law An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law. By country France Under Article 46 of the Constitutio ...
for the
government of Puerto Rico The government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, organized under the Constitution of Puerto Rico since 1952, is a republican democracy modeled after the Federal Government of the United States. Under a system of separation of powers, the ...
and its relation with the United States. Muñoz Marín, as Governor of Puerto Rico, supported the measure. Muñoz Marín became the first native-born elected governor of Puerto Rico. After Col. Riggs's assassination, many Nationalist Party leaders were imprisoned. Members of the Puerto Rican independence movement came under greater scrutiny and prosecution. Among the leaders arrested were Pedro Albizu Campos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, Luis F. Velazquez, Clemente Soto Vélez, Erasmo Velazquez, Julio H. Velazquez, Juan Gallardo Santiago, Juan Juarbe Juarbe, and Pablo Rosado Ortiz. They were later released on $10,000 bail. The Nationalist Rafael Ortiz Pacheco fled to the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
. These leaders were charged with having "conspired to overthrow" the U.S. government on the island. They were tried in the U.S. District Court in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The first trial jury, which included a minority of Puerto Ricans among its members, ended in a hung jury. A second jury was picked, consisting solely of "Anglo-Americans." This jury found every Nationalist charged "guilty" except Juarbe Juarbe. The guilty findings and sentences were appealed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, MA, which affirmed the lower court's determinations.Historical Timeline
PR Dream


See also

*
List of Puerto Ricans This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...
*
List of revolutions and rebellions This is a list of Revolution, revolutions, rebellions, insurrections, and uprisings. BC : : : : 1–999 AD 1000–1499 1500–1699 1700–1799 1800–1849 , style="background:#F88" , Siamese victory , , , - , ...
* Truman assassination attempt * Puerto Rican Nationalist Party *
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 Marching, march turned into a police shooting in which 17 civilians and two policemen were killed, and more than 200 ...
* Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s *
Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party (, 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 ideology are usually called ''independentist ...
* Intentona de Yauco


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Piedras Massacre Massacres in 1935 Massacres in Puerto Rico Massacres committed by the United States Political history of Puerto Rico Student protests in Puerto Rico 1935 in Puerto Rico People murdered in Puerto Rico October 1935 in the United States 1935 crimes in Puerto Rico 1935 murders in North America 20th-century murders in Puerto Rico Police misconduct in Puerto Rico Mass murder in the United States in the 1930s University and college massacres in the United States University and college shootings in the United States Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico Police brutality in insular areas of the United States Massacres of protesters in the United States Murders by law enforcement officers in the United States