Author: Harry Franqui Rivera

Dr. Harry Franqui-Rivera is a historian and Research Associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York. He specializes in Caribbean, Latino and Latin American History and focuses on the 19-20 centuries. Among other interests he address the issues of nation building, national identities, military institutions and imperial-colonial relations. These blogs are excerpts from his manuscript Fighting for the Nation: Military Service and Modern Puerto Rican National Identities, 1868-1952, to be published by University of Nebraska Press. He is currently finishing a second book manuscript on the 65th Infantry during the Korean War; Glory and Shame: The Ordeal of the All-Puerto Rican 65th Infantry during the Korean War.
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War Among All Puerto Ricans: The Nationalist Revolt and the Creation of the Estado Libre Asociado of Puerto Rico (part three)

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The battle in Puerto Rico was over. By no means had it been bloodless. Eighteen Nacionalistas had been killed and eleven wounded. Seven policemen and a Guardsman were killed while twenty-one police officers and eleven soldiers were wounded. A fireman and two civilians also died during the gunfights. After his arrest, a still defiant Albizu Campos declared that the “nation was undergoing a glorious transfiguration.” By contrast, Muñoz Marín instead talked of the “tragic and useless death of 31 Puerto Ricans.” Continue reading

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War Among All Puerto Ricans: The Nationalist Revolt and the Creation of the Estado Libre Asociado of Puerto Rico (part two)

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That the Nacionalistas were planning a coup or insurrection was hardly a secret. Emboldened by the apparent inaction of the insular government, Albizu Campos continued his call to arms against the U.S. and its representatives in the island – Muñoz Marín, the Populares, and anyone who served, worked, or were in any way related to the metropolis. Continue reading

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War Among All Puerto Ricans: The Nationalist Revolt and the Creation of the Estado Libre Asociado of Puerto Rico (part one)

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In the first of three posts examining the Puerto Rican Uprising of 1950, Dr Harry Franqui-Rivera discusses the political developments that led to the nationalist revolt.  In his inaugural address of 20 January 1949, President Harry S. Truman announced that, as leader of the free world, the U.S. was bent on… Continue reading