Jayuya Uprising and the Republic of Puerto Rico (1950)

The Jayuya Uprising of October 30, 1950 was the centerpiece of the broader Nationalist Insurrection. Led by Blanca Canales, a social worker and lifelong Nationalist, the insurgents captured the town of Jayuya in the central highlands.

Canales led a group of Nationalists who:
- Attacked the post office and raised the Puerto Rican flag (banned under the Gag Law)
- Seized the Selective Service office (symbol of the military draft)
- Burned the post office (symbol of federal authority)
- Declared the Republic of Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican flag flew over Jayuya for three days before the U.S. military response arrived. The National Guard, accompanied by U.S. Air Force P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes, attacked the town. The planes strafed and bombed civilian areas of Jayuya — making this one of the only documented cases of the United States bombing its own territory in the 20th century.

Blanca Canales was captured, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment. She served 17 years before being pardoned by Governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella in 1967.

The bombing of Jayuya was censored from mainland media coverage at the time. The U.S. government characterized the events as a minor disturbance rather than the armed uprising it was. The censorship of Jayuya became itself an act of colonial violence — the erasure of a people's resistance from the historical record.

Canales remained committed to independence until her death in 1996 at age 93. She never expressed regret for the uprising.