Museo de la Masacre de Ponce
Encyclopedia
The Museo de la Masacre de Ponce, or (English: Ponce Massacre Museum), is a historic building in Ponce, Puerto Rico
. The building was the site of the Ponce Massacre
, and the museum depicts the history and events surrounding the event, which some describe as the most tragic event in the history of Puerto Rico's struggle for independence. The museum is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
in as Casa de la Masacre.
The house that the museum occupies was the site of "the incident that is today remembered as a manifestation of the oppression of political liberty in Puerto Rico". The museum documents "U.S. investigations into hundreds of individuals" belonging to the nationalist
movement and includes a considerable number of photos from the Nationalist era.
It also houses photographs and various artifacts from the Ponce massacre episode, with a section devoted to the Father of the Puerto Rican Nation, Harvard
graduate and Ponce born, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos
.
became its president. Born in the aristocratic city of Ponce, Albizu Campos earned a law degree from Harvard University in 1921, and entered the Nationalist Party in 1924. In 1926, he became the party's political messenger to Latin America, which took him to the Dominican Republic
, Haiti
, Cuba
, Mexico
, Panama
, Venezuela
, and Peru
, from 1927 through 1930.
Returning to Puerto Rico in 1930 Albizu Campos turned into the strongest and most vocal supporter of an open and militant challenge to the colonialist presence
of the United States in Puerto Rico, and advocated an armed struggle as a means of gaining independence from the United States. The economic situation of the Island at the time, the result of the Great Depression
of the 1930s, further served to fuel the antagonist sentiment against the United States, garnishing a considerable amount of nationalistic feeling in the Island that helped the party gained additional ground in terms of unity and membership.
assigned a new governor for the Island, General Blanton Winship. Winship governed for five years (1934–1939), during which time he engaged in "an open struggle against the Nationalist Party and a direct persecution
of its leadership." Consistent with this, "in October 1935 the State Police in the town of Rio Piedras murdered four [Nationalist] party members" at the University of Puerto Rico
in Rio Piedras, a neighboring town next to San Juan. This is known as the Rio Piedras Massacre
. According to Jose E. Ayoroa Santaliz in his work Museo Casa de la Masacre de Ponce: En conmemoracion del Primer Cincuentenario de la Masacre de Ponce (Ponce Massacre Museum: March 2011), page 2, the Insular Ponce "assesinated" the four men in a pre-meditated fashion and under the direction of the U.S.-appointed Puerto Rico police chief the American colonel Francis Riggs. "The Nationalists responded by killing the State Chief of Police, Colonel Francis Riggs, in [sic] February 23, 1936". The two young Nationalists responsible were captured and executed at the police barracks in San Juan without a trial, with no law enforcement officer ever being brought to trial for their executions. Riggs' death provoked General Winship's rage, and he ordered raids to be conducted in the Nationalist Party's committee in all mayor towns in the Island, with the purpose of finding evidence that would incriminate the Party in the assassination of Police Chief Riggs, but no evidence was ever found.
Still, Winship's government brought charges of "sedition
" against Albizu Campos and the other party leaders. Albizu Campos and the others were found not guilty by a jury consisting of mostly Puerto Rican citizens and some American members. However, General Winship arranged for a retrial to take place, this time with a majority American citizens, where and conviction was achieved that sent Albizu and the others to a federal penitentiary
in Atlanta for 30 years. The elimination of the party's leadership, however, did not stop neither the Nationalist militancy nor Winship's repression, a situation that resulted in the violent event that took place in Ponce in 1937.
The Ponce Committee of the Nationalist Party had its headquarters at 32 Marina Street. This was a corner property that bordered Aurora Street, and had been used as the committee's meeting hall for over 10 years. In 1937, the local committee made plans for the annual celebration of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico, which had taken place on March 22, 1873. The date chosen for the 64th anniversary commemoration of the abolition of slavery was March 21, 1937.
The nationalists had received a permit for the parade
from Ponce Mayor José Tormos Diego
's office. But at the eleventh hour, Governor Winship instructed the new Insular Police Chief, Colonel Enrique de Orbeta, to contact Mayor Tormos and have him cancel the parade permit. He also ordered Orbeta to increase the police force in the southern city, and to stop, "by all means necessary", any demonstration conducted by the nationalists in Ponce.
The Nationalists started their march with the accompaniment of La Borinqueña
and a shot was fired. The police responded to the shot with a massive counter fire towards the defenseless crowd, wounding almost 200 people and immediately killing fourteen. Five more died as a result of their wounds during the next few days.
(ACLU) came to Puerto Rico and formed a commission consisting of well-respected citizens to investigate the incident, with Dr. Arthur Garfield Hays
, President of the ACLU, as the Commission's president. After months of investigation that ACLU commission determined "that Governor Winship was directly responsible for the incident; that the Nationalists were exercising their basic right of freedom of speech
and association
; and that the killing of defenseless party members and by-standers had to be recognized as a 'massacre'.
The afternoon of March 21, 1937, became "one of the saddest" and the most violent day in Puerto Rican political struggle for independence.
, Casa Wiechers-Villaronga
) to design a new facade and interior arrangement for the property. The renovations were completed in 1910, but they followed Blas' design in part only.
. In 1988 the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture purchased the property, reconditioned it, and subsequently converted into the Ponce Massacre Museum. The architectural style is Vernacular
Creole
.
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...
. The building was the site of the 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...
, and the museum depicts the history and events surrounding the event, which some describe as the most tragic event in the history of Puerto Rico's struggle for independence. The museum is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in as Casa de la Masacre.
The house that the museum occupies was the site of "the incident that is today remembered as a manifestation of the oppression of political liberty in Puerto Rico". The museum documents "U.S. investigations into hundreds of individuals" belonging to the 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...
movement and includes a considerable number of photos from the Nationalist era.
It also houses photographs and various artifacts from the Ponce massacre episode, with a section devoted to the Father of the Puerto Rican Nation, Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
graduate and Ponce born, Dr. 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...
.
Historical background
After the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898, the Island's political status within the US became a subject or ardent conversation within Puerto Rican political circles. A number of political parties sprung up as a result of this, with platforms founded on the differing ideologies of what such relationship with the US should be. The three basic platforms were independence, statehood, and commonwealth, an in-between status of greater local autonomy while still being a territory of the US. The independence movement came to be symbolized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.Birth of the Nationalist Party
The Nationalist party was founded in 1922 and, though it had a small membership, was highly involved in activities, in particular after Dr. Pedro Albizu CamposPedro 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...
became its president. Born in the aristocratic city of Ponce, Albizu Campos earned a law degree from Harvard University in 1921, and entered the Nationalist Party in 1924. In 1926, he became the party's political messenger to Latin America, which took him to the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, from 1927 through 1930.
Returning to Puerto Rico in 1930 Albizu Campos turned into the strongest and most vocal supporter of an open and militant challenge to the colonialist presence
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
of the United States in Puerto Rico, and advocated an armed struggle as a means of gaining independence from the United States. The economic situation of the Island at the time, the result of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s, further served to fuel the antagonist sentiment against the United States, garnishing a considerable amount of nationalistic feeling in the Island that helped the party gained additional ground in terms of unity and membership.
Winship's persecution
Concurrent with this increased sentiment for nationalism and independence, U.S. president Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
assigned a new governor for the Island, General Blanton Winship. Winship governed for five years (1934–1939), during which time he engaged in "an open struggle against the Nationalist Party and a direct persecution
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
of its leadership." Consistent with this, "in October 1935 the State Police in the town of Rio Piedras murdered four [Nationalist] party members" at the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras , also referred to as UPR-RP, is a public research university located on a campus in Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico...
in Rio Piedras, a neighboring town next to San Juan. This is known as the Rio 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...
. According to Jose E. Ayoroa Santaliz in his work Museo Casa de la Masacre de Ponce: En conmemoracion del Primer Cincuentenario de la Masacre de Ponce (Ponce Massacre Museum: March 2011), page 2, the Insular Ponce "assesinated" the four men in a pre-meditated fashion and under the direction of the U.S.-appointed Puerto Rico police chief the American colonel Francis Riggs. "The Nationalists responded by killing the State Chief of Police, Colonel Francis Riggs, in [sic] February 23, 1936". The two young Nationalists responsible were captured and executed at the police barracks in San Juan without a trial, with no law enforcement officer ever being brought to trial for their executions. Riggs' death provoked General Winship's rage, and he ordered raids to be conducted in the Nationalist Party's committee in all mayor towns in the Island, with the purpose of finding evidence that would incriminate the Party in the assassination of Police Chief Riggs, but no evidence was ever found.
Still, Winship's government brought charges of "sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
" against Albizu Campos and the other party leaders. Albizu Campos and the others were found not guilty by a jury consisting of mostly Puerto Rican citizens and some American members. However, General Winship arranged for a retrial to take place, this time with a majority American citizens, where and conviction was achieved that sent Albizu and the others to a federal penitentiary
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 Atlanta for 30 years. The elimination of the party's leadership, however, did not stop neither the Nationalist militancy nor Winship's repression, a situation that resulted in the violent event that took place in Ponce in 1937.
The parade
The nationalists had received a permit for the parade
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
from Ponce Mayor José Tormos Diego
José Tormos Diego
José Tormos Diego was a Puerto Rican politician and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1937 to 1941. He is best remembered for rebuilding the historic Teatro La Perla in 1940.-Mayoral selection:...
's office. But at the eleventh hour, Governor Winship instructed the new Insular Police Chief, Colonel Enrique de Orbeta, to contact Mayor Tormos and have him cancel the parade permit. He also ordered Orbeta to increase the police force in the southern city, and to stop, "by all means necessary", any demonstration conducted by the nationalists in Ponce.
The massacre
The permit was revoked the very same morning of the activity, but the Party refused to cancel the parade and instructed its participants to form as planned in front of their club house and move on with the activity. The group of participants consisted of the male cadre, the female "Daughters of the Republic" group, and a small music band. These, together, with their families, friends, and local bystanders started to crowd around midday around the club house in preparation for the parade. Simultaneous with this, some 150 well-armed Insular Police officers positioned themselves strategically such as to encircle the demonstrators.The Nationalists started their march with the accompaniment of La Borinqueña
La Borinqueña
La Borinqueña is the official anthem of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. After Puerto Rico became the "The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in 1952, the first elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, signed law #2 of July 24, 1952 that stated that the musical composition known as "La Borinqueña" was to...
and a shot was fired. The police responded to the shot with a massive counter fire towards the defenseless crowd, wounding almost 200 people and immediately killing fourteen. Five more died as a result of their wounds during the next few days.
The investigation
The violent incident in Ponce shook the entire population of the Island despite their political differences. The American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU) came to Puerto Rico and formed a commission consisting of well-respected citizens to investigate the incident, with Dr. Arthur Garfield Hays
Arthur Garfield Hays
Arthur Garfield Hays was a lawyer born in Rochester, New York. His father and mother, both of German descent, belonged to prospering families in the clothing manufacturing industry...
, President of the ACLU, as the Commission's president. After months of investigation that ACLU commission determined "that Governor Winship was directly responsible for the incident; that the Nationalists were exercising their basic right of freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and association
Freedom of association
Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
; and that the killing of defenseless party members and by-standers had to be recognized as a 'massacre'.
The afternoon of March 21, 1937, became "one of the saddest" and the most violent day in Puerto Rican political struggle for independence.
Construction
The Ponce Massacre Museum is the two-story house at the intersection of Marina and Aurora streets where the events took place. It is a brick masonry and wood building. The Historic Archives of the Municipality of Ponce show a residence at that location as far back as 1886, however, the present building, and the building occupied by the Nationalist party dates from the early 1900s. By 1906 the owners of the property contracted Blas Silva, a well-known civil engineer from Ponce, (Casa SalazarMuseo de la Historia de Ponce
The Museo de la Historia de Ponce is a museum in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, depicting the city's ecology, economy, architecture, government, and elements of daily life. Inaugurated in 1992, it was the first museum in Puerto Rico established to cover the history of the people of a town or city...
, Casa Wiechers-Villaronga
Casa Wiechers-Villaronga
The Casa Wiechers-Villaronga is a Neo-classical style mansion in Ponce, Puerto Rico designed and built in the early twentieth century. The house was acquired and restored by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and now operates as the Museum of Puerto Rican Architecture. The house sits in the...
) to design a new facade and interior arrangement for the property. The renovations were completed in 1910, but they followed Blas' design in part only.
The museum
At the time of the 1937 Ponce Massacre, the owners were Francisco de Jesus y Graciela Toro Vendrell. In 1945 the property was sold to Juan Riera Ginard and Carmen M. Toro de Riera, who never occupied the house but instead used it as a source of rental income. The house was rented out in two units: the first floor as commercial space and the second floor as residential unit. In 1987, the Puerto Rico Legislature passed Joint Resolution Number 2951, designating the property a national landmarkNational landmark
A National landmark is a site identified by a national authority as one possessing nationally–significant natural, historic, or scientific resources...
. In 1988 the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture purchased the property, reconditioned it, and subsequently converted into the Ponce Massacre Museum. The architectural style is Vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
Creole
Creole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
.