Blanca Canales
Encyclopedia
Blanca Canales Torresola (February 17, 1906 - July 25, 1996) was a Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 nationalist
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was founded on September 17, 1922. Its main objective is to work for Puerto Rican Independence.In 1919, José Coll y Cuchí, a member of the Union Party of Puerto Rico, felt that the Union Party was not doing enough for the cause of Puerto Rican independence and he...

 leader. Canales may possibly have been the first woman to have led a revolt against the United States when she led the The Jayuya Uprising.

Early years

Blanca Canales Torresola was born in Jayuya, Puerto Rico
Jayuya, Puerto Rico
Jayuya is a 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 18 wards and Jayuya Pueblo...

, into a politically active family. She was the younger sister of writer and politician Nemesio Canales
Nemesio Canales
Nemesio R. Canales was a Puerto Rican essayist, journalist, novelist, playwright, politician and activist who defended women's civil rights...

. Their father was an active member of the "Unionist Party" of Puerto Rico which, notwithstanding its name, lobbied for the independence of the island. Their mother was a strong willed woman who encouraged her children to think for themselves. As a child Canales read many books and stories about other nations and their heroes. She would often go with her father to political meetings where she became impressed with the speeches and enjoyed the patriotic nature of the flag waving in the meetings. She finished her primary and secondary education in Jayuya.

In 1924, her father died and her mother moved to Ponce
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...

. She graduated from Ponce High School and then enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...

. In May 1930 she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts. Before graduating, she attended a conference given by the President of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was founded on September 17, 1922. Its main objective is to work for Puerto Rican Independence.In 1919, José Coll y Cuchí, a member of the Union Party of Puerto Rico, felt that the Union Party was not doing enough for the cause of Puerto Rican independence and he...

, Pedro Albizu Campos
Pedro Albizu Campos
Don Pedro Albizu Campos was a Puerto Rican politician and one of the leading figures in the Puerto Rican independence movement. He was the leader and president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party from 1930 until his death...

, and was impressed. Canales returned to the university that same year to take a course 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 organizing the women's branch of that party. A series of events between the United States 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
Ponce massacre
The Ponce massacre occurred on 21 March 1937 when a peaceful march in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party commemorating the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico by the governing Spanish National Assembly in 1873, and coinciding with a protest against the incarceration by the...

 took place.

During the 1940s, Canales' active political participation was limited to making monetary collections because her job kept her constantly traveling from San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

 to Ponce. In 1947, Albizu Campos was released from jail.

Uprising

On June 11, 1948, the United States appointed Governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero
Jesus T. Piñero
Jesús Toribio Piñero Jiménez was the first native Puerto Rican to be appointed governor of Puerto Rico by the Government of the United States.-Early years:...

, signed the infamous "Ley de la Mordaza" (Gag Law) or Law 53 as it was officially known, passed by the Puerto Rican legislature which made it illegal to display the Puerto Rican flag, sing a patriotic song, talk about independence or fight for the liberation of the island. It resembled the anti-communist Smith Law
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...

 passed in the United States.
In 1949, the Nationalist Party under Albizu Campos' leadership planned a revolution in Puerto Rico which was supposed to take place in 1952 when the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 was to approve the concept of "Estado Libre Associado". The nationalist leaders of Jayuya included Canales, Elio Torresola (Griselio Torresola
Griselio Torresola
Griselio Torresola born in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, was one of two Puerto Rican Nationalists who attempted to assassinate United States President Harry Truman. During the attack on the president, Torresola mortally wounded White House policeman Private Leslie Coffelt and wounded two other law...

's brother) and the Irizarry brothers. Weapons for the planned revolution were stored at Canales' house.

On October 26, 1950, Albizu Campos held a political meeting in Fajardo
Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Fajardo is a small city in Puerto Rico located in the east region of the island, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, north of Ceiba and east of Luquillo.Fajardo is spread over 7 wards and Downtown Fajardo , which serves as the administrative center of the city...

. 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
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...

, Mayagüez
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Mayagüez is the eighth-largest municipality of Puerto Rico. Originally founded as "Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria" it is also known as "La Sultana del Oeste" , "Ciudad de las Aguas Puras" , or "Ciudad del Mangó"...

, Naranjito
Naranjito, Puerto Rico
Naranjito is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central region of the island, south of Toa Alta; north of Barranquitas and Comerío; east of Corozal; and west of Bayamón. Naranjito is spread over 15 wards and Naranjito Pueblo...

, Arecibo
Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Arecibo is a municipality in the northern midwest coast of Puerto Rico and located by the Atlantic Ocean, north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta, and Florida. Arecibo is spread over 18 wards and Arecibo Pueblo...

, Utuado
Utuado, Puerto Rico
Utuado is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central-western mountainous region of the island known as La Cordillera Central. It is located north of Adjuntas and Ponce; south of Hatillo and Arecibo; east of Lares; and west of Ciales and Jayuya. In land area it is the third-largest...

 (Utuado Uprising
Utuado Uprising
The Utuado Uprising, also known as the Utuado Revolt or El Grito de Utuado, refers to the revolt against the United States government in Puerto Rico which occurred on October 30, 1950 in various localities in Puerto Rico and which in Utuado culminated in the "Utuado massacre".-Events leading to the...

), Nationalist attack of San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

 and Jayuya. The first battle of the nationalist uprisings occurred during the early hours of the day 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.
On October 30, 1950, Canales and her group entered the town of Jayuya using a bus and a car, the men attacked the police station after making a left turn in the car, Canales made a right turn to the end of the main street were the telephone station was located and cut the phone lines. She led the group to the town's plaza where she raised the Puerto Rican Flag (which was outlawed at the time) and declared Puerto Rico a Free Republic in a speech she gave from a balcony of a building around the town's plaza. Canales went to the town's hospital, after being notified by a fellow nationalist of the town (whom she did not know but to whom she gave her revolver), that Carlos Irizarry was wounded. There she found Irizarry leaning against a light post after being wounded in the police station's armed confrontation, she took him to Utuado's (neighboring town) hospital because Jayuya's was closed. Jayuya was under the nationalists' control for three days until it was bombed by the planes and the artillery of the United States National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...

. The nationalists surrendered on November 1, 1950.

Canales was arrested and accused of killing a police officer and wounding three others. She was also accused of burning down the local post office; she was sentenced to life imprisonment plus sixty years of jail. In June 1951, she was sent to the Alderson Federal Prison Camp
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 in Alderson, West Virginia
Alderson, West Virginia
Alderson, a town in the US State of West Virginia, is split geographically by the Greenbrier River, with portions in both Greenbrier and Monroe Counties. Although split physically by the river, the town functions as one entity, including that of town government...

, the same prison to which Lolita Lebrón
Lolita Lebrón
Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor was a Puerto Rican nationalist who wasconvicted of attempted murder and other crimes after leading an assault on the United States House of Representatives in 1954,...

 would be sent in 1954.

Later years

In 1956, Canales was transferred to the Women's Jail in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
Vega Baja is a municipality in north central Puerto Rico located in the northern coast, north of Morovis; east of Manatí; and west of Vega Alta. Vega Baja is spread over 13 wards and Vega Baja Pueblo...

. In 1967, Canales was given a full pardon by Puerto Rican Governor Roberto Sanchez Vilella
Roberto Sánchez Vilella
Roberto Sánchez Vilella was the second Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1965 to 1969. He was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico...

. She continued to be an active independence advocate until the day she died. Canales died in 1996 in Jayuya. The house in which Blanca and Nemesio Canales were born and raised was turned into a museum by the City of Jayuya.

See also

  • María de las Mercedes Barbudo
    María de las Mercedes Barbudo
    María de las Mercedes Barbudo was a political activist who was the first Puerto Rican female "Independentista", meaning that she was the first Puerto Rican woman to become an avid advocate of Puerto Rican Independence or "Freedom Fighter"...

  • Lola Rodríguez de Tió
    Lola Rodríguez de Tio
    Lola Rodríguez de TióThis name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the maiden family name " Rodríguez" and the second or matrimonial family name is "Tió"., , was the first Puerto Rican born poetess to establish herself a reputation as a great poet throughout all of Latin America...

  • Mariana Bracetti
    Mariana Bracetti
    Mariana Bracetti 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 Puerto Rico in its attempt to overthrow the Spanish government on the island, and to establish the...

  • Lolita Lebron
    Lolita Lebrón
    Dolores "Lolita" Lebrón Sotomayor was a Puerto Rican nationalist who wasconvicted of attempted murder and other crimes after leading an assault on the United States House of Representatives in 1954,...

  • Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s
    Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s
    The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s was a call for independence and uprising by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party against United States Government rule of Puerto Rico and against the approval of the creation of the political status "Free Associated State" for Puerto Rico which...

  • Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
    Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
    The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was founded on September 17, 1922. Its main objective is to work for Puerto Rican Independence.In 1919, José Coll y Cuchí, a member of the Union Party of Puerto Rico, felt that the Union Party was not doing enough for the cause of Puerto Rican independence and he...

  • Ponce Massacre
    Ponce massacre
    The Ponce massacre occurred on 21 March 1937 when a peaceful march in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party commemorating the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico by the governing Spanish National Assembly in 1873, and coinciding with a protest against the incarceration by the...

  • Río Piedras massacre
    Río Piedras massacre
    The Río Piedras massacre occurred at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, and involved a confrontation between local police officers and supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party on October 24, 1935...

  • Puerto Rican Independence Party
    Puerto Rican Independence Party
    The Puerto Rican Independence Party is a Puerto Rican political party that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from United States suzerainty....

  • Grito de Lares
    Grito de Lares
    El Grito de Lares —also referred as the Lares uprising, the Lares revolt, Lares rebellion or even Lares Revolution—was the first major revolt against Spanish rule and call for independence in Puerto Rico...

  • Intentona de Yauco
    Intentona de Yauco
    The Intentona de Yauco a.k.a. the "Attempted Coup of Yauco" of 1897, was the second and last major revolt against Spanish colonial rule in Puerto Rico, staged by Puerto Rico's pro-independence movement....

  • List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

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