Puerto Rico's Gag Law
 To view live-action Newsreel scenes and photos of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s (with commentary in Spanish), click here
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Law 53 of 1948 —better known as the Gag Law (Spanish: Ley de La Mordaza)— was an act enacted by the Puerto Rico legislature of 1948 with the purpose of suppressing the independence movement in Puerto Rico. The act made it a crime to own or display a Puerto Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to speak or write of independence, or meet with anyone, or hold any assembly, in favor of Puerto Rican independence. Influenced by U.S. Interests, it was passed by a legislature overwhelmingly dominated by members of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), which supported developing an alternative political status for the island. The bill was signed into law on June 10, 1948 by Jesús T. Piñero, the United States-appointed governor. Opponents tried to have the law declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, but did not succeed.
The law remained in force for nine years until 1957 when it was repealed on the basis that it was unconstitutional as protected by freedom of speech within Article II of the Constitution of Puerto Rico and the First Amendment of Constitution of the United States.
After the United States invaded Puerto Rico in 1898 during the Spanish–American War, some leaders, such as José de Diego and Eugenio María de Hostos, expected the United States to grant the island its independence. The United States had other ideas. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ratified on December 10, 1898, the U.S. annexed Puerto Rico. Spain had lost its last colony in the western hemisphere, and the United States gained imperial strength and global presence.
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