page_title: Intentona de Yauco
section_title: Political and pro-independence protests and skirmishes
hierarchical_section_title: Intentona de Yauco / Political and pro-independence protests and skirmishes
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Commission in 1895 Source http://www.centropr.org/prdiaspora_chronology.html?submenu=3 (their source:&#160;: La Gran Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico)
context_page_description: The Intentona de Yauco of March 1897 was the second and final major revolt against Spanish colonial rule in Puerto Rico, staged by the island's pro-independence movement in the second half of the nineteenth century.
  The first major revolt in 1868 is known as El Grito de Lares. After the failure of this short-lived rebellion, many of the local leaders and participants were arrested, and some were executed. Those who survived their prison terms were later released and some went into exile, especially in New York City.
  Shortly after the 1868 revolt, Spain gave the island many liberal reforms. It extended to Puerto Rico some elements of the liberal constitution that it had allowed its former colonies in South America. Puerto Rico received provincial status and Spanish citizenship was granted to the criollos, the native-born of the island. Political reforms included allowing Puerto Ricans to participate in special elections and to organize officially recognized political parties. During the following years, the minor protests against Spanish rule that arose in various towns of the island were quickly subdued by the Spanish authorities.
context_section_description: During the years immediately following the Grito, there were minor pro-independence protests and skirmishes with the Spanish authorities in Las Marías, Adjuntas, Utuado, Vieques, Bayamón, Ciales and Toa Baja (Palo Seco).
  In July 1871, a group of people attacked Spanish soldiers and members of the local militia in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital. Lieutenant General Gabriel Baldrich, the Spanish-appointed governor, declared martial law. Some of the protests were between the liberal and conservative political factions of the island and were not related to the pro-independence movement. Among these were the "Motín de Yabucoa" of 1871, and La Estrella and the Sucesos de Camuy of 1873.
  On December 8, 1895, the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee was founded in New York City, where many exiles had gathered. This group promoted the ideal of Puerto Rican independence from Spain. It included as members such participants of El Grito de Lares as Ramon Emeterio Betances, Juan Rius Rivera, Juan de Mata Terreforte and Aurelio Méndez Martínez. The Committee named Terreforte as its Vice-President. In 1892, Terreforte and the members of the Revolutionary Committee adopted the design of a flag similar to the Cuban flag but with its colors inverted. This new flag, to represent the Republic of Puerto Rico, is still used on the island.
  In 1896, a group of Yaucanos (as the natives of Yauco are known) who supported full independence of Puerto Rico joined forces and met in Barrio Barinas where they made plans to overthrow the government. The group was led by Antonio Mattei Lluberas, a wealthy coffee plantation planter, and Mateo Mercado. On December of that year, the local Civil Guard discovered their plans and proceeded to arrest all those involved, including additional members Darío and Carlos Franchesi and Emiliano Lavergue. They were soon released and returned home.
  In 1897, Mattei Lluberas visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City. There he met with Betances, de Mata Terreforte and Méndez Martínez; together they planned a major coup. Betances was to direct it, Méndez Mercado would organize it, and General Rius Rivera would command the armed forces. At the time Rius Rivera, who had joined the Cuban Liberation Army and José Martí's struggle for Cuban independence, was the Commander-in-Chief of the Cuban Liberation Army of the West.
  Mattei Lluberas purchased 30,000 machetes, which were to be distributed among the rebels. He returned to Puerto Rico with a Puerto Rican flag and began to proceed with the rebellion plans. The Budet Rivera brothers established an insurgent training camp on the farm of Guillermo Velazco. Fellow rebels Gerardo Forest Vélez and Agustín F. Morales (a general in the Army of the Dominican Republic) were in charge of propaganda. They traveled throughout the island seeking public support for their cause. The Cuban revolutionist Tomás Estrada Palma offered a contribution of 500 rifles with half a million rounds of ammunition and one of his comrades offered a steamship staffed with an invading force of 200 men under the command of General Morales. The revolution was set for the beginning of December 1897.
  By this time, Luis Muñoz Rivera and his Autonomist Party had signed a pact with Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, the leader of the Spanish Liberal Party. Sagasta had promised that if he and the liberals assumed power in Spain he would grant Puerto Rico autonomy. Major political leaders of Puerto Rico believed that seeking full independence at this time would threaten their work to gain autonomy and risk severe repression by the Spanish authorities. When the Mayor of Yauco, Francisco Lluch Barreras, heard rumors of the planned uprising he immediately notified General Sabas Marín González, the governor of the island.
  Fidel Vélez, one of the separatist leaders, found out that the Spanish authorities knew about their plans and quickly met with Mattei Lluberas and the other leaders. Fearing pending arrest, he demanded that the insurrection start immediately rather than in December. The other leaders feared that s
caption: Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee
  (standing L-R) Manuel Besosa, Aurelio Méndez Martínez, and Sotero Figueroa (seated L-R) Juan de Mata Terreforte, Dr. José Julio Henna and Roberto H. Todd
exif: {}