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Blanca Canales was a Puerto Rican revolutionary who helped found the Daughters of Freedom, the women’s branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
In 1950, the Nationalists staged uprisings in several towns across Puerto Rico - including Jayuya. Canales supplied a group of nationalists with arms and ammunition, and led them to attack the police station and occupy it. They also occupied the post office, and raised a Puerto Rican flag at the town plaza. The Nationalists held the town for three days before surrendering. This protest against the United States and imperialism is known today as the Jayuya Uprising.
Canales was arrested for killing a police officer and burning down the post office, and was sentenced to sixty years in prison. However, after seventeen years she was fully pardoned by the Puerto Rican governor. She continued to be an advocate for justice until her death in 1996.