Qualla: Rio Piedras Massacre https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Rio Piedras Massacre https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre Rio Piedras Massacre: Introduction https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre/ Isolina Rondon saw it happen. She testified that she watched police officers fire on the crowd and heard one officer scream, "not to let them escape alive." Her testimony was ignored. No charges were filed. On October 24, 1935, at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras, police officers confronted supporters of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and opened fire, killing four people. The Rio Piedras massacre was not an isolated event. It was the opening act of a cycle of political violence between the Nationalist movement and the U.S.-appointed colonial government that would claim lives for years afterward.

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/3/0/rio-piedras-massacre-wp/de30-rio-piedras-massacre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Rio Piedras Massacre: Petition and Protest https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre/ The roots of the massacre lay in the fraught politics of 1930s Puerto Rico. In 1931, U.S.-appointed Governor Theodore Roosevelt Jr. had named Dr. Carlos E. Chardon as chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico, the first Puerto Rican to hold the position. Chardon initiated the R...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/3/0/rio-piedras-massacre-wp/de30-rio-piedras-massacre-petition-and-protest.mp3 0:06 2 full Rio Piedras Massacre: The Killing https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre/ The details of what happened on October 24 are straightforward and damning. Police officers confronted Nationalist Party supporters on the university campus and opened fire. Four men were killed: Eduardo Rodriguez Vega, Jose Santiago Barea, and Pedro Quinones, all Nationalist sup...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/3/0/rio-piedras-massacre-wp/de30-rio-piedras-massacre-the-killing.mp3 0:06 3 full Rio Piedras Massacre: The Chain Reaction https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre/ At the time of the massacre, the top-ranking police official on the island was Colonel Elisha Francis Riggs, a former U.S. Army officer appointed Chief of Police in 1933 by U.S.-appointed Governor Blanton Winship. Riggs was deeply unpopular for his repression of the organized lab...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/3/0/rio-piedras-massacre-wp/de30-rio-piedras-massacre-the-chain-reaction.mp3 0:06 4 full Rio Piedras Massacre: Repression and Memory https://qualla.com/rio-piedras-massacre/ The assassination of Riggs gave the colonial government the justification it sought for a broader crackdown. Pedro Albizu Campos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, Clemente Soto Velez, and other Nationalist leaders were arrested and imprisoned. Senator Luis Munoz Marin, asked by administra...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/3/0/rio-piedras-massacre-wp/de30-rio-piedras-massacre-repression-and-memory.mp3 0:06 5 full