Blanca Canales

AKA: Blanca Canales Torresola

Released

Date of birth:17. 02. 1906

Date of death:25. 07. 1996

Age:90^{† Deceased}

Gender:Female

Race:Hispanic

Era:1950s

State:Puerto Rico

Time Imprisoned:

16 Years 9 Months 2 Days

Support

Puerto Rican Independence Puerto Rican Nationalist Party

Biography

Blanca Canales Torresola was a Puerto Rican Nationalist leader and one of the few women in history to lead an armed revolt against the United States. A leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party who helped organize its women's branch, the Daughters of Freedom (Hijas de la Libertad), she led the Jayuya Uprising on October 30, 1950 — raising the outlawed Puerto Rican flag in the town plaza and proclaiming Puerto Rico a free republic. Nationalists held Jayuya for three days until U.S. military forces bombed and retook the town, and she was imprisoned for leading the uprising. Convicted in connection with the revolt, she was sentenced to life imprisonment plus sixty years and held at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia and later the women's prison at Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, before receiving a full pardon from Governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella in August 1967 after about seventeen years.

Case

Charges: Killing a police officer; wounding three others; burning the town post office (October 30, 1950 Jayuya Uprising)

Arrested: Oct 30, 1950

Incarcerated: Oct 30, 1950

Released: Aug 1, 1967

Sentence: Life imprisonment plus sixty years; held at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp (West Virginia) and the women's prison at Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, until a full pardon by Governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella in August 1967 (about seventeen years served; the exact day of release is not documented) Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted in connection with the Jayuya Uprising

Convicted: Yes

Blanca Canales

Biography

Case

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