Partisanship, Power Contenders, and Colonial Politics in Puerto Rico, 1920s,”

This article explores the political conditions and the reorganization of the political landscape in Puerto Rico during the 1920s. It examines how the rise of a powerful political block with a labor base in the late 1910s brought a sudden change to the political parties (Unión, Republicano, Socialista) in Puerto Rico during the 1920s. The article then shows how Puerto Rico’s three dominant political parties began to revise their role as overseers of the colonial apparatus without challenging the American presence, and how they saw the status between the island and the United States resolved. To shed light on the nuances of Puerto Rican politics during the 1920s, this article explains why there was a resurgence of political violence during this decade, and why this violence resembles the episodes of political violence at the beginning of the century. What political and economic transformations had occurred in the island that promoted a political reorganization of the established parties? To fully understand the dynamics of how political partisanship and violence were manifested in Puerto Rico, I will move the narrative to one located within municipal politics. Since Caguas was considered a stronghold of Unionista politics, I examine how political changes during the 1920s unfolded in this municipality.