Ponce massacre

Ponce massacre
Ponce massacre
	Outbreak of the Ponce Massacre
Location	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Coordinates	18°00′33.7″N 66°36′49.0″W / 18.009361°N 66.613611°W
Date	21 March 1937 ; 3:15 pm (EST)
Target	Supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Attack type	Massacre
Weapons	Thompson submachine guns, tear gas bombs, machine guns, rifles, pistols
Deaths	17 civilians and two police officers (from friendly fire)
Injured	over 200 civilians wounded
Perpetrators	Governor Blanton Winship via the Puerto Rico Insular Police

The Ponce massacre was an event that took place on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, when a peaceful civilian march turned into a police shooting in which 17 civilians and two policemen were killed,^[6] and more than 200 civilians wounded. None of the civilians were armed and most of the dead were reportedly shot in their backs.^[7] The march had been organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico by the governing Spanish National Assembly in 1873,^[8] and to protest the U.S. government's imprisonment of the Party's leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, on sedition charges.^[9]

An investigation led by the United States Commission on Civil Rights put the blame for the massacre squarely on the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Blanton Winship.^[10]^[11] Further criticism by members of the U.S. Congress led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to remove Winship as governor in 1939.^[12]

Governor Winship was never prosecuted for the massacre and no one under his chain of command – including the police who took part in the event, and admitted to the mass shooting – was prosecuted or reprimanded.^[13]

The Ponce massacre remains the largest massacre in US imperial history in Puerto Rico.^[11] It has been the source of many articles, books, paintings, films, and theatrical works.

^ Wagenheim, Kal; de Wagenheim, Olga Jiminez (2008). "The Grim Years". The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Markus Wiener Publishers. pp. 179–180. ISBN 9781558764767.
^ Millán, Reinaldo (21 March 2012). "Siete décadas no anulan tragedia" (in Spanish). La Perla del Sur.
^ Marcantonio, Vito. "Five Years of Tyranny". The Official Piri Thomas Website. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012.
^ Nelson A. Denis. War Against all Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony. New York: Nation Books, Perseus Books Group. 2015. pp.47, 49.ISBN 9781568585017
^ Meyer, Gerald J. (2011). "Pedro Albizu Campos, Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, and Vito Marcantonio's Collaboration in the Cause of Puerto Rico's Independence". Centro Journal. XXIII (1). New York: The City University of New York: 87–123. ISSN 1538-6279.
^ Wagenheim, Kal; Jiménez de Wagenheim, Olga (1998). The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Maplewood, N.J.: Water Front Press. pp. 179–182.
^ "Declara al Gobernador que ha dado 'instrucciones terminantes' en el caso de Ponce". El Mundo (in Spanish). San Juan, Puerto Rico. 23 March 1937. p. 1.
^ Black, Timothy (2009). When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets. Pantheon Books. p. 5. ISBN 9780307377746.
^ Navarro, Sharon Ann; Xavier Mejia, Armando (2004). ABC-CLIO (ed.). Latino Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. ISBN 9781851095230.
^ Cite error: The named reference LMM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Garcia-Passalacqua, Juan-Manuel (22 March 2007). "Remembering Puerto Rico's Ponce Massacre". Democracy Now (Interview). Interviewed by Juan Gonzalez; Amy Goodman.
^ Hayes, Arthur Garfield; Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico (22 May 1937). Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico (Report). OCLC 304563805.
^ Cite error: The named reference Hunter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] Wagenheim, Kal; de Wagenheim, Olga Jiminez (2008). "The Grim Years". The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Markus Wiener Publishers. pp. 179–180. ISBN 9781558764767.

[periodicolaperla.com-2] Millán, Reinaldo (21 March 2012). "Siete décadas no anulan tragedia" (in Spanish). La Perla del Sur.

[piri-3] Marcantonio, Vito. "Five Years of Tyranny". The Official Piri Thomas Website. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012.

[4] Nelson A. Denis. War Against all Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony. New York: Nation Books, Perseus Books Group. 2015. pp.47, 49.ISBN 9781568585017

[5] Meyer, Gerald J. (2011). "Pedro Albizu Campos, Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, and Vito Marcantonio's Collaboration in the Cause of Puerto Rico's Independence". Centro Journal. XXIII (1). New York: The City University of New York: 87–123. ISSN 1538-6279.

[6] Wagenheim, Kal; Jiménez de Wagenheim, Olga (1998). The Puerto Ricans: A Documentary History. Maplewood, N.J.: Water Front Press. pp. 179–182.

[7] "Declara al Gobernador que ha dado 'instrucciones terminantes' en el caso de Ponce". El Mundo (in Spanish). San Juan, Puerto Rico. 23 March 1937. p. 1.

[8] Black, Timothy (2009). When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets. Pantheon Books. p. 5. ISBN 9780307377746.

[9] Navarro, Sharon Ann; Xavier Mejia, Armando (2004). ABC-CLIO (ed.). Latino Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. ISBN 9781851095230.

[LMM-10] Cite error: The named reference LMM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[democracynow.org-11] Garcia-Passalacqua, Juan-Manuel (22 March 2007). "Remembering Puerto Rico's Ponce Massacre". Democracy Now (Interview). Interviewed by Juan Gonzalez; Amy Goodman.

[llmc.com-12] Hayes, Arthur Garfield; Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico (22 May 1937). Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico (Report). OCLC 304563805.

[Hunter-13] Cite error: The named reference Hunter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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