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Puerto Rico

Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for Puerto Rico.

478Documented
1In custody
334Released
1Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in Puerto Rico

Where Puerto Rico’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

2000s 274 1950s 91 1930s 33 1980s 24 1970s 22 1940s 20

Documented cases

478 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

J
Jesús M. Balzac
Released
Jesús M. Balzac was the editor of El Baluarte, a newspaper in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. In two articles published...
P
Petra Barreras del Río
Released
Petra Barreras del Río was arrested for trespass on the U.S. Navy bombing range at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as pa...
R
Roberto Barreto Valentín
Released
Roberto Barreto Valentín was arrested during the 2000 civil-disobedience campaign against U.S. Navy training o...
B
Brian Barrett
Released
Brian Barrett was arrested for trespass on the U.S. Navy bombing range at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as part of the...
F
Francisco Bartolomei Crespo
Released
Francisco Bartolomei Crespo was arrested for PR Independence Party brigade trespass on Vieques as part of the...
J
Jorge Bascage
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
E
Elías Beauchamp
Elías Beauchamp was a Cadet of the Republic arrested following the February 23, 1936 assassination of police c...
I
Isaac Bennejo
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
C
Casimiro Berenguer
Released
Casimiro Berenguer was one of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party members charged with the murder of two police...
W
Wigberto Berrios
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
Á
Ángel Berrios
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
J
Jesús María Berríos
Jesús María Berríos was a Puerto Rican nationalist from Humacao arrested in 1941 for refusing compulsory Unite...
W
William Boria
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
J
Jimmy Borrero
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
J
Juan Osvaldo Budet Meléndez
Released
Juan Osvaldo Budet Meléndez was arrested during the 2000 civil-disobedience campaign against U.S. Navy trainin...
C
Consuelo Burgos
Released
Consuelo Burgos was one of two women among the eleven defendants in Puerto Rico's first Smith Act case, indict...
R
Rafael Burgos Fuentes
Arrested before the 1950 uprising and committed to San Juan jail by judge Belford Torres. He remained detained...
M
Mark Byler
Mark Byler was detained during a Christian Peacemaker Teams prayer action against U.S. Navy bombing in Vieques...
F
Francisco Báez
Released
Francisco Báez was arrested for trespass on the U.S. Navy bombing range at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as part of th...
R
Rodrigo Báez
Released
One of approximately 1,500 activists arrested between 1999 and 2003 for civil disobedience at the U.S. Navy's...
R
Ramón C. Chinea
A thirty-year-old PIP member from Aguas Buenas was arrested while doing carpentry at home and taken to police...
A
Armando Caban Vega
Released
Armando Caban Vega was arrested for trespass on the U.S. Navy bombing range at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as part o...
J
Jesús Cabrera Cirilo
Released
Jesús Cabrera Cirilo was arrested for trespass on the U.S. Navy bombing range at Vieques, Puerto Rico, as part...
F
Felipe Calventi Rosado
A nationalist arrested during the repression following the 1950 uprising. The thesis explicitly states that he...

Institutions in Puerto Rico

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in Puerto Rico that appear in the census’s case files.

Metropolitan Detention Center GuaynaboGuaynabo, Puerto Rico
95 cases
Federal Detention Center, GuaynaboSan Juan, Puerto Rico
93 cases
Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) GuaynaboGuaynabo, Puerto Rico
20 cases
MDC GuaynaboSan Juan, Puerto Rico
15 cases
La PrincesaSan Juan, Puerto Rico
9 cases
Vega Alta Women's PrisonVega Alta, Puerto Rico
4 cases
Arecibo Women's JailArecibo, Puerto Rico
1 case
District Jail, AreciboArecibo, Puerto Rico
1 case