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Blanca Canales Blanca Canales was a Puerto Rican nationalist who helped organize the “Daughters of Liberty” - the women's wing of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was one of the few women in history to lead a revolt against the United States, in what became known as the Jayuya Levant. In 1948, a severe restriction law, known as the Law of Gagging, or Law 53, which criminalized the printing, publication, sale or exhibition of any material that was intended to paralyze or destroy the island government. In response, nationalists began to plan an armed revolution. On October 30, 1950, Blanca and others took the weapons they had hidden in their home and marched into the city of Jayuya, taking over the police station, burning the post office, cutting telephone lines and flying the Puerto Rico flag, in defiance of Law 53. As a result, the American president declared martial law and ordered the army and air force to attack the city. The nationalists held out as long as they could, but they were arrested and three days later, sentenced to life in prison. Much of Jayuya was destroyed and the incident was not covered correctly by the US press - even with the American president saying it was "an incident among Puerto Ricans".
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