20 Facts About Blanca Canales

Blanca Canales was an educator and a Puerto Rican Nationalist.

Blanca Canales was the younger sister of writer and politician Nemesio Canales.

Blanca Canales's family was politically active and her father was part of the "Partido Union de Puerto Rico".

Blanca Canales's mother was a strong-willed woman who encouraged her children to think for themselves.

Blanca Canales often accompanied her father to political meetings, where she enjoyed the speeches, flag-waving, and patriotic fervor.

Blanca Canales graduated from Ponce High School and, in May 1930, earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Puerto Rico.

Blanca Canales returned to the university that same year, and took a course of study in social work.

Blanca Canales returned to Jayuya and worked at a local rural school.

Blanca Canales escaped from Fajardo and ordered the revolution to start.

Blanca Canales led the group to her house in Barrio Coabey, a neighborhood of Jayuya, where she had been stockpiling arms and ammunition.

Blanca Canales led the group to the town plaza, raised the Puerto Rican Flag, and declared Puerto Rico a Free Republic.

Blanca Canales had been wounded in a gunfight at the police station.

Blanca Canales rushed him to a hospital in Utuado, the neighboring town.

Blanca Canales was arrested and accused of killing a police officer, wounding three others, and burning down the post office.

In 1956, Blanca Canales was transferred to the Women's Jail in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico.

In 1967, after 17 years in prison, Blanca Canales was given a full pardon by Puerto Rican Governor Roberto Sanchez Vilella.

Blanca Canales continued to be an active independence advocate until the day she died.

Blanca Canales is buried in the "Cementerio Municipal" in her hometown Jayuya.

The house in which Blanca and Nemesio Canales were born and raised was turned into a museum by the City of Jayuya.

Blanca Canales' name is on the second line of the third plate.