War
Against All Puerto Ricans by Nelson Denis, 2015, Excerpts
In support of jailed Albizu,
the Nationalists had obtained parade permits. The street was full with nearly
three hundred men, women, and children in their Sunday best, the men in straw
hats and white linen suits, the ladies in flowery print dresses, and children
playing all around. It looked like a festive afternoon in the park. The crowd
cheered when eighty Cadets of the Republic, twelve Nurses, and a five-piece
marching band arrived in support of the Republic of Puerto Rico.
Suddenly, the mayor of Ponce
and the police captain jumped into the street and told everyone to go home; the
parade was over. The permit had been revoked on the governor’s orders. The governor
had also instructed to increase the police presence and prevent the
demonstration by whatever means necessary.
Everyone started to march –
permit or no permit. Then a shot rang out. Ivan Rodriguez Figueras crumpled
like a rag doll, blood spurting from his throat with each dying heartbeat.
Panicked screams and curses erupted as people ran in all directions, but they
couldn’t escape. Two hundred men with rifles and Tommy guns were stationed all
around them. They blocked every route and created a killing zone. They started
firing.
A boy was shot on a bicycle. A
father tried to shield his dying son and was shot in the back. In a contagion
of panic and savagery, the police kept firing. They shot into several corpses
again and again. They fired over the corpses. Bullets flew everywhere. The
police climbed onto cars and running boards and chased people down the side
streets, shooting and clubbing anyone they could find. They shot men, women,
and children in the back as they tried to escape.
By the time they finished,
nineteen men, one woman, and seven-year-old girl lay dead; over two hundred
more were gravely wounded – moaning, crawling, bleeding, and begging for mercy
in the street.
Ponce Massacre - Pedro Bull
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