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Puerto Rican Nationalist Party

The PNPR was originally organized on September 17 of 1922. Its main objective is to carry out the struggle to make Puerto Rico and it’s People a sovereign and independent Nation. In 1930, Don Pedro Albizu Campos was elected President. Under Albizu’s leadership, the Party became a vanguard of struggle. After Albizu’s death, the Nationalist Party was dismembered and some sectors opted to incorporate into socialist movements. The majority of the Nationalist, remain without a true leadership to channel their desire for Liberty and of service to the Nation.

. In 1930, Don Pedro Albizu Campos was elected President. Under the leadership of Albizu, the Party became a vanguard of struggle and a national liberation movement. After Albizu's death, the Nationalist Party was severely attacked by the repressive forces of the US government, but nevertheless survived thanks to the revolutionary legacy of Don Pedro Albizu Campos. Nationalism is the spirit dedicated to the interests of the Nation; A desire for the advancement, well-being and prosperity of the Nation and of all those who compose it.

October 30th is the anniversary of the 1950 uprising (also know as Jayuya Uprising), a legacy of Puerto Rican history in the 20th century. It was an armed battle that began in the municipality of Jayuya and extended throughout Puerto Rico, expressing the will of the people to fight for their national liberation. Fighters of the Nationalist Party, determined to make their dream of an independent republic come true, carried out armed confrontations with U.S.-trained police and the National Guard.

Historic evidence shows that the causes for this event are rooted in the colonial presence of the United States in Puerto Rico, which began with the U.S. military invasion of the country 52 years previously. The Jayuya Uprising was the response of the Puerto Rican people to the repression experienced during this period. Brute force was used by the U.S. Government to establish a colonial regime and to maintain its dominion over Puerto Rico.

Under the leadership of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, which advocated an end to U.S. colonialism and the independence of Puerto Rico, gained the respect and admiration of multiple sectors of the population. Unlike its predecessor, the Unionist Party that advocated independence early in its history but eventually withdrew that demand from its program, the Nationalist Party unconditionally proclaimed the inalienable right of the colonized people to independence. The Nationalist Party also became known for advocating the right of the colonized people to use any means necessary including the use of arms, to win the independence of Puerto Rico. The revolutionary impetus in Puerto Rico which is credited to the Nationalist Party was the main target of the colonizers' repressive agencies as they sought to destroy the independence movement.

Facing severe consequences, the Nationalist party stood firm in its quest. When the progressive movement in the U.S. experienced persecution in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the result of an anti-communist, anti-labor and racist witch-hunts spearheaded by the notorious Senator Joseph McCarthy, Puerto Ricans witnessed a more intense and brutal version of that same repressive campaign. People in the United States hardly knew that members of the Nationalist Party were systematically jailed and assassinated in Puerto Rico. Laws were created that gave the colonial police the "right" to gun down members of the Nationalist Party in plain view, without provocation.

Although Washington wanted to give the impression that these actions were executed exclusively by the colonial government, that is, an "internal matter among Puerto Ricans", the law mandated U.S. President Harry Truman to take direct charge in all matters concerning Puerto Rico. In addition, the presidential appointed colonial governor of Puerto Rico was required to consult directly with the White House. At the beginning of October 1950, the intelligence of the Nationalist Party obtained information of a secret government plan to eliminate the independence movement; the tactics included banning the Nationalist Party, attacking offices and homes, arresting all members of the party, especially Pedro Albizu Campos. Washington officials sought to use "seditious conspiracy" laws to silence the most militant individuals with imprisonment and thus destroy the independence movement.

On the morning of October 30, 1950, a young woman named Blanca Canales led an armed contingency of Nationalists towards the city of Jayuya where they attacked the headquarters of the colonial police. Once the Nationalists surrounded the police station, a brief gun battle ensued. The civil employees of the police were surprised and intimidated by the unexpected tenacity of these patriots. The police were ordered to surrender their arms and leave the building with their hands raised.

The people of Jayuya embraced the nationalists with sympathy for their brave act. Surrounded by the residents of the town, the freedom fighters raised the Puerto Rica flag that was strictly prohibited by colonial law. With weapon in hand, Blanca Canales prepared herself to address the crowd in the town plaza. Canales began her speech, inspiring everyone by shouting the solemn words of the historical fighter of Puerto Rico's independence, "Que viva Puerto Rico libre!”She then defiantly declared the independence of the Republic of Puerto Rico.

When Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola were sent to the Blair House in Washington, D.C. by the Nationalist leader Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos in order to assassinate President Truman, it was indeed to refute the false notion of the nature of the conflict before the world. Torresola was killed and Collazo was critically wounded in a shootout with capital police and Truman's bodyguards.

Before the spanish arrived and renamed it Puerto Rico the indigenous indians, The Tainos, called the land "Borinquen", which means "Land of the Valiant Lord. “Boricua,” from “Borinquen,” is what Puerto Ricans call each other, particularly on the U.S. mainland. Using the name is a form of bonding, reaffirming ancient roots.

The people of the sovereign state of Borinken dod not recognize the legitimacy of the United States Government over the Territory’s people, describing all actions taken by the imperial Power there as illegal.

The Soviet Union responded with it when the United States criticized the Communist Party dictatorship’s domination of the Baltic nations and other countries. The Soviet client state of Cuba brought the issue to the United Nations in 1972 and has continued to annually since then, steadily gaining support of other nations, particularly Latin American countries and governments often at odds with the US.

In June 2014 the UN’s 29-nation member Special Committee on Decolonization Monday once again approved a resolution regarding the territory, calling on the US to “take responsibility” for enabling Puerto Ricans to exercise their rights to self-determination and independence. Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Hossein Dehqani, in the Committee discussion called on the U.S. Government to speed up the process of decolonization of Puerto Rico. “The U.S. should allow the colonized people of Puerto Rico to enjoy their inalienable right for self-rule and independence,” Dehqani said on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).