Puerto Rico Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====U.S. unincorporated organized territory with commonwealth constitution==== In 1947, the U.S. Congress passed the ''Elective Governor Act'', signed by President Truman, allowing Puerto Ricans to vote for their own [[governor of Puerto Rico|governor]]. The first elections under this act were held the following year, on 2 November 1948. On 21 May 1948, a bill was introduced before the [[Puerto Rican Senate]] which would restrain the rights of the independence and Nationalist movements on the island. The Senate, controlled by the {{lang|es|Partido Popular Democrático}} ([[Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico)|PPD]]) and presided by [[Luis Muñoz Marín]], approved the bill that day.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://academiajurisprudenciapr.org/en/revistas/volumen-vii/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327121629/http://academiajurisprudenciapr.org/en/revistas/volumen-vii/ |title=La obra jurídica del Profesor David M. Helfeld (1948–2008) |first=Carmelo |last=Delgado Cintron |archive-date=27 March 2012}}</ref> This bill, which resembled the anti-communist [[Smith Act]] passed in the United States in 1940, became known as the {{lang|es|Ley de la Mordaza}} ([[Gag Law (Puerto Rico)|Gag Law]]) when the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, [[Jesús T. Piñero]], signed it into law on 10 June 1948.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.topuertorico.org/history5.shtml |title=Puerto Rican History |publisher=Topuertorico.org |date=13 January 1941 |access-date=20 November 2011 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502215211/http://www.topuertorico.org/history5.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Under this new law, it would be a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government; or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent. It made it illegal to sing a patriotic song and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the [[flag of Puerto Rico]], with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 ({{Inflation|US|10000|1948|r=-3|fmt=eq}}), or both.{{efn|Cockcroft (2001; in Spanish) "[La Ley 53] fué llamada la 'pequeña ley Smith', debido a la semejanza con la Ley Smith de Estados Unidos [...]"<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Cockcroft |title=América Latina y Estados Unidos: historia y política país por país |publisher=Siglo XXI Editores |language=es |year=2001 |access-date=24 September 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUGFqxW_zHQC&q=peque%C3%B1a%20ley%20smith%20puerto%20rico&pg=PA383 |isbn=978-968-23-2332-4 |archive-date=8 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208215042/https://books.google.com/books?id=rUGFqxW_zHQC&q=peque%C3%B1a%20ley%20smith%20puerto%20rico&pg=PA383#v=snippet&q=peque%C3%B1a%20ley%20smith%20puerto%20rico&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.topuertorico.org/history5.shtml |title=Puerto Rican History |publisher=Topuertorico.org |date=13 January 1941 |access-date=20 November 2011 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502215211/http://www.topuertorico.org/history5.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Dr [[Leopoldo Figueroa]], the only non-PPD member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, the law was repressive and in violation of the First Amendment of the [[U.S. Constitution]], which guarantees [[Freedom of Speech]]. He asserted that the law as such was a violation of the civil rights of the people of Puerto Rico. The law was repealed in 1957.<ref name="LG">{{cite web |url=https://issuu.com/jaimepartsch/docs/jes_s_t._pi_ero_y_la_guerra_fria?mode=a_p |title=La Gobernación de Jesús T. Piñero y la Guerra Fría |publisher=Issuu.com |access-date=18 April 2014 |archive-date=13 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713132356/http://issuu.com/jaimepartsch/docs/jes_s_t._pi_ero_y_la_guerra_fria?mode=a_p |url-status=live }}</ref> In the November 1948 election, Luis Muñoz Marín became the first popularly elected governor of Puerto Rico, replacing U.S.-appointed Piñero on 2 January 1949. [[File:US 65th Infantry Regiment.Painting.Korean War.Bayonet charge against Chinese division.jpg|thumb|Painting of a bayonet charge by the [[U.S. 65th Infantry Regiment]], made up of Puerto Rican troops, against a Chinese division during the [[Korean War]]]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page