By: Cameron Ortiz
In March 1937, a massacre occurred on the island of Puerto Rico, Ponce, referred to as “The Ponce Massacre”. The massacre is never talked about and I feel as though it has been, in a sense, swept under the rug by the U.S. government.
One week before the fateful protest, the nationalist party went to the mayor of Puerto Rico, Jose Tormos Diego. They sought approval for a peaceful protest which was to honor the ending of slavery and to protest the party’s leader. When the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, General Blanton Winship heard of the protest, he contacted the police chief, Colonel Enrique de Orbetaan, and told him to talk with mayor Tormos about canceling the protest. He told the chief to stop the protest by “any means necessary.” The protests permission was abruptly revoked. Police Chief Guillermo Soldevilla , with eleven policemen, took position in front of the protesters. Chief Perez Segarra and Sgt. Rafael Molina, commanding nine policemen armed with Thompson submachine guns and tear gas, stood in the back. Chief of Police Antonio Bernardi, with eleven policemen armed with machine guns, stood in the east; another group of twelve police, armed with rifles, was placed in the west. According to some reports, police numbered “over 200 heavily armed” guards. Then the police started shooting — seventeen protesters and two police officers died and over two-hundred people were injured. Protesters were chased, dragged out of hiding, and beaten to death. A physician that was aiding the wounded reported that many were being shot as they ran away. No fire arms were found in the hands of protesters, suggesting the police didn’t even have cause to be worried, as their riot gear was supposedly top of the line at the time. One man who was shot wrote the words “Viva la República, Abajo los Asesinos” in his own blood, which means “Long live the Republic, Down with the Murderers!” in English.
The people responsible for the mass casualty were found “innocent.”
