Atlas of Hispanic-American History

Vilella, was elected to succeed him, while

Muñoz returned to the senate.

The Question of

Independence

Even while Muñoz negotiated common-

wealth status for Puerto Rico and made

the most of the island’s association with

the United States, some Puerto Ricans

vigorously opposed any arrangement but

independence. That opposition was led by

Pedro Albizu Campos (1893–1965), head

of the Nationalist Party. Beginning in

1936, Albizu spent several years in prison

in Atlanta for conspiring to overthrow the

U.S. federal government in Puerto Rico.

He regarded Muñoz as a puppet of the

United States who was helping to keep

Puerto Rico in colonial subjection. In

1950, after President Truman had signed

a law authorizing Puerto Ricans to write

their own constitution, Albizu organized

an uprising in two towns in Puerto Rico,

Jayuya and Utuado, and launched an

attack on the governor’s palace. Gunmen

traveling in two cars assaulted the palace,

aiming to assassinate Muñoz. They were

stopped in a gun battle, while the U.S.

National Guard suppressed the uprisings.

Thirty-three people were killed in the

tumult, and Albizu went back to jail.

Later that year the radical indepen-

dentistas, or independence activists, took

the fight to Washington. Two Puerto

Rican Nationalists, Oscar Collazo and

Griselio Torresola, assaulted Blair House,

Truman’s temporary residence while the

White House was under renovation. One

Nationalist and one policeman died in the

gunfight. Truman was unharmed.

The violence was not over. On

March 1, 1954, three Nationalists—

Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Candel Miranda,

and Andrés Cordero—attacked the U.S.

Capitol. Shouting “Puerto Rico is not

freed!”, they fired guns from the gallery

of the House of Representatives, wound-

ing five congressmen. They were cap-

tured and sent to prison, not to be

released until President Jimmy Carter

pardoned them in 1979.

Muñoz consistently denounced

Nationalist violence. From his experi-

ence wrangling for commonwealth status

in Washington, he knew that some people

in Congress were opposed to granting

Puerto Rico greater liberty; it was there-

fore important to reassure them that

Puerto Rico could govern itself peaceful-

ly. After the assassination attempt on

Truman, Muñoz wired the president to

condemn the “dastardly attempt...

against your person.” Truman replied

cordially, saying, “I am sure that the

American public understands the irra-

tional and insignificant background of

the disorders and does not in the least

hold the Puerto Rican government or

people responsible for them.”

But the desire for independence was

not simply irrational. It was part of an

internal debate in Puerto Rico that tested

Muñoz’s political skills at home just as

Congressional debates tested them in

Washington. Although the Puerto Rican

Independence Party (PIP) did not

endorse the violent tactics of the

Nationalists, they joined them in arguing

for independence, while the Statehood

Republican Party (PER) advocated state-

hood. In the midst of vigorous democrat-

ic debate, Muñoz managed to persuade

the majority of Puerto Ricans to accept

commonwealth status and reaffirm it in

plebiscites, notably in 1964. Those advo-

cating independence dwindled to a small

minority of Puerto Ricans—a minority

that sometimes made news beyond its

numbers because of terrorist acts on both

island and mainland.

Operation Bootstrap

Under Muñoz’s leadership, Puerto Rico

made great strides economically as well as

politically. The principal vehicle for eco-

nomic uplift was Operation Bootstrap, an

industrialization program launched by

Muñoz in 1947 while he was still presi-

dent of the Puerto Rican senate. Urging

Puerto Ricans to “pull themselves up by

their bootstraps,” the program aimed to

transform the island’s economy from one

based on agriculture to one based on

urban industry. Operation Bootstrap

offered tax exemptions to U.S. manufac-

turing firms willing to establish factories

in Puerto Rico. The result was that Puerto

Rico became highly industrialized, such

that most of its people became city

dwellers working in manufacturing and

service industries. Thousands of jobs were

created, with many jibaros moving from

rural communities to the cities. To pro-

vide housing for them, Operation

174 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY

Luis Muñoz Marín (Library of

Congress)

“What we have to guard

against in this world we live

in is not to confuse love for

our patria with small, futile

and naive concepts of

nationalionalism and

national state.”

— Luis Muñoz Marín, 1951