Marcos Xiorro

Marcos Xiorro
Born	Africa
Nationality	African/Puerto Rican
Occupation	House slave, Slave revolt leader
Notes
Xiorro was the planner of a slave rebellion in Puerto Rico.

Marcos Xiorro was the slave name of an enslaved African in Spanish Puerto Rico who, in 1821, planned and conspired to lead a slave revolt against the sugarcane plantation owners and the Spanish Colonial government. Although his rebellion was unsuccessful, he achieved legendary status among the island's slave population and has become part of Puerto Rican folklore.

It is not known when Xiorro was born, or from what people and region in Africa he came. What is known is that he was known as a Bozal slave, one who had been recently brought to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico directly from Africa. Xiorro was owned by Vicente Andino, a Militia Captain who owned a sugar plantation in the municipality of Bayamon.

In 1812, Salvador Meléndez Bruna, the Spanish-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, ordered that any slave who disrespected his master would be punished with fifty lashes by the civil authorities - and then returned to his master for additional punishment. A 100-lashes punishment was given to those who committed a violent act or incited a rebellion.

Ramón Power y Giralt was a Puerto Rican naval hero, a captain in the Spanish navy who had risen to become vice-president of the Spanish Cortes. Power Y Giralt was amongst the delegates who proposed that slavery be abolished in Puerto Rico. He sent a letter to his mother, Josefa Giralt, suggesting that if the proposals were approved, she should be the first one to grant her slaves their freedom.

Although these proposals were never discussed in sessions of the Spanish Courts, Josefa Giralt's slaves learned about the letter and, believing that slavery had been abolished, they spread the "news" that they were free. A slave named Benito contributed to the rumor by circulating the mistaken news that the Cortes Generales y Extraordinarias de la Nacion (General and Extraordinary Courts of the Nation) had granted slaves their freedom. These false rumors led to various confrontations between the slaves, military and slave masters.