Los Cadetes de la República
The Cadets of the Republic
"El Nacionalismo es una escuela de honor y de valor."
"Nationalism is a school of honor and valor."
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos
The official youth organization within the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico, PNPR) was originally denominated as the Ejercito Libertador de Puerto Rico ('Liberation Army of Puerto Rico') or Cadetes de la República ('Cadets of the Republic'). There has also been a Nationalist Youth body. In the past, not all Cadets were originally members of the Nationalist Youth and not all members of the Nationalist Youth were necessarily Cadets, but all Cadets have always been sworn members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
The uniform of the Cadets of the Republic traditionally consists of black shirt with black buttons and two pockets with flaps, white pants, black tie, white gloves and black military hat (overseas hat or beret), black belt and black shoes or boots. Officers wear a white jacket over the black shirt and tie, and a white officers hat.
The black color of the shirt, as in the Nationalist flag, symbolizes the mourning of the Puerto Rican Nation in colonial captivity. Drawing from the Irish spiritually and logistically, the Cadets of the Republic's black shirts were possibly modeled by El Maestro after the black jackets of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Army and were the equivalent to Patrick Pearse's Irish Volunteers. Patrick Henry Pearse (known to Irish Nationalist as Pádraig Pearsea) was a teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; Bráithreachas na Poblachta in Gaelic) was a secret fraternal organization dedicated to fomenting armed revolt against the British state in Ireland in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
Fenian Patriot
The uniforms of the Cadets of the Republic are very possibly inspired by those of Fenian Soldiers. The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish Nationalist organization based in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Members were commonly known as "Fenians" and named after the Fianna, a legendary band of Irish warriors led by Fionn Mac Cumhaill. The term Fenian was used since the 1850s for Irish Nationalists (who oppose Brittish rule in Ireland) and it is the English version of the Gaelic 'Na Fianna', a term which refers to the ancient protectors of the Ard Ri (High King).
Fenian soldier
The use of the color black in Puerto Rican Nationalism was originally promoted by Patriot Ramón Emeterio Betances and probably inspired by his Franc-Masonic affiliations and by the Carbonari or Colliers, a secret political society, which played an important historical part, chiefly in France and Italy, during the first decades of the nineteenth century. The essence of its oath of administration was, "Hatred to all tyrants."
Don Ramón Emeterio Betances
In the early 1930s, there were several variations in respect to the relative aspect of the uniform used by the Cadets of the Republic. By the year 1934, the uniform was established as it is generally used today, but even today there are variations due to the lack of or availability of resources and organization.
In the past the Cadets were only composed of male members. The female youth organization within the Party was composed of the Cuerpo de Enfermeras (Nurse's Core) and/or Hijas de la Libertad (Daughters of Liberty) and their uniform was the same as that of the Cadets, except all white and using long skirts instead of pants.
The insignia of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party is worn by all Cadets on the left side of their hats and on the left arm of their shirts. This consists of a round patch with a black background and a white cross known as the Potent Cross or Cruz Potenzada, in the center. This is the same insignia, which appears on the Nationalist flag. The Potent Cross is a sign of Divine Light and Life, and along with the eternal presence of El Maestro, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, is a most sacred and enduring symbol of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and the Puerto Rican Nation.
The Potent Cross or Cruz Potenzada has arms, which end in the shape of a "T" or tau. This cross is often called the Cross of Jerusalem (Cruz de Jerusalén), Tau Cross (Cruz Tau) or Crutch Cross. The Potent Cross is one variation of the crosses used by orders of knights during the Crusades. The First Crusade was launched to capture Jerusalem and the holy places for Christians after 400 years of Muslim rule. Success in 1099 saw the setting up of Christian States in the Holy Land but keeping them proved difficult. Within years, the growing strength of Muslim forces spawned the idea of holy warriors dedicated to fighting "for Christ". The Knights Hospitaller, along with the Knights Templar, were the main defenders of the Holy Land until the final Muslim victory in 1291.
Knight Templar (white mantle, red cross) & Knight Hospitaller (black mantle, white cross)
A white cross over a black background was used by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem also known as Hospitallers of Jerusalem until 1309, the members were called Knights of Rhodes from 1309 till 1522, and have been called Knights of Malta since 1530. This was a chivalrous religious order initiated in 1099 and officially founded in Jerusalem in 1113. Together with the Knights Templar, formed later in 1119, the Knights of Saint John became one of the most powerful Christian groups in the Middle East. The order came to distinguish itself in battles with the Muslims, its soldiers wearing a black surcoat with a white cross. By the mid-12th century, the order was clearly divided into military brothers and those who worked with the sick.
Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers)
The combination of black over white was also used by the Knights Templar as the Beauseant; a banner, which they carried into battle and is said to have been intended to signify being fair and being "favorable towards the friends of Christ, but black and terrible to his enemies." Symbolically, the black section depicted the sins of the secular world that the Knights Templar had chosen to leave while the second section was white depicting the purity that the order offered them, a sort of transformation of darkness to light.
The Beauseant
The Beauseant consists of a black square above a white one and made of equally divided black upper and white lower horizontal blocks and suspended from a cross-bar. As it was hung from the top and left side, the banner could be seen in full wherever the knights were. Its main purpose seems to have been as a rallying point for the Templars. During battle, the Templars were often separated from one another, and the flying banner would allow them to easily regroup in order to continue the attack.
The Templars were most excellent soldiers. They wore white mantles with a cross, and when they went to war the standard of two colors called the Beauseant was borne before them. They went in silence. In going, they were the first, in returning, the last. They were loyal to their Masters. When they thought fit to make war and the trumpet had sounded, they sang in chorus the Psalm of David, "Not unto us, O Lord…" kneeling on the blood and necks of the enemy, unless they had forced the troops of the enemy to flee altogether, or broken them to pieces.
Knight Templar with Beauseant
Should any of them for any reason turn his back to the enemy, or come forth alive [from a defeat], or bear arms against the Faithful, he was severely punished; the white mantle with the cross, which was the sign of his knighthood, was taken away with ignominy, he was cast from the society of brethren, and would eats his food on the floor without a napkin for the space of one year. At the end of a year, if the Master and brethren thought his penance to have been sufficient, they restored him the belt of his former knighthood. The Templars live under a strict religious rule, obeying humbly, having no private property, eating sparingly, dressing meanly, and dwelling in tents.
The use of black and white metaphorically to symbolize duality is quite ancient. All civilizations hold black and white as symbolic connections between light and dark; good and evil; life and death; sky and earth; fire and water, male and female, etc. Black is also the symbolic color for the Earth and white for The Spirit.
Black and white are opposites, that share the attribute of neutrality. In most Western countries black is the color of mourning. Black is formal, conventional, and dignified, and both positive and negative.
Black, negation of all colors, symbolized rebirth; it was the black that represented the underworld of the spirit, which endures after life. In ancient Egypt, it symbolized night, death, and magic.
White generally symbolizes purity, cleanliness, and innocence. White is precise, critical, and sincere. It is a natural emblem of purity, truth, innocence, and hope. It can also be symbolic of regeneration or resurrection. In ancient Egypt, it symbolized purity, femininity, and the moon.
For ancient Egyptians white was perceived as expression of abundance, token of holy and purity; as it was also the color of the arms of the Upper Egypt, white was also held as the color of joy and of the wisdom in search for primordiality within the material world.
The combination of black and white also symbolizes the "good and evil" principles of the Egyptian and Persian creed. It is the warfare of Michael and Satan, of the Gods and Titans, of Balder and Loki; between light and darkness; day and night; freedom and despotism, etc.
The ancient Egyptians combined black and white in an attempt to reunite spirit and matter, or life and matter, and that is why they held on carefully to the sacred character of the inlay.
The complete story of Cadets of the Republic will not be told until our Nation has reached the supreme goal of Freedom and Autonomy within Liberty, Equality & Fraternity. There are elements of the struggle, such as both the heroic merits of many, and the dishonor of some, which must, for now, inevitably remain in silence. One of the sacrifices which organization and revolutionary discipline imposes on those who submit to it, is that of discretion.
In the history of the struggle for Liberty, Independence and Sovereignty of our Nation, the Cadets of the Republic of Puerto Rico (Ejército Libertador de Puerto Rico), as the military body of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, has earned the highest honors. The Cadets of the Republic and the use of their symbols were the initiative of Don Pedro Albizu Campos himself, and they represent the course of organization and discipline, which El Maestro instituted as the duty for the liberation of Puerto Rico and foundation of the Puerto Rican Nation, as it continues today.
The Cadets of the Republic as the military body of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party has its origins in the first two years of the 1930s. Our Consecrated and Illuminated Teacher, Don Pedro Albizu Campos provided their structure and military nature. For El Maestro, organization and discipline were the key to the victorious development of the struggle for the Independence of Puerto Rico. According to the newspaper, El Mundo, 10,000 men were enlisted in 1936.
El Maestro:Don Pedro Albizu Campos
"El Nacionalismo es la Patria organizada para el rescate de su Soberanía"
"Nationalism is the Country organized for the rescue of its Sovereignty"
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos
During the decade of the 30s, many companies of the Cadets of the Republic were organized across the island. They all carried out important tasks of military organization and discipline as a method of training and development for the Puerto Rican Nationalists.
The offices of the National Committee (Junta Nacional) of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party were originally located at the following address: Número 11 de la Calle del Cristo, Old San Juan. It was from there that military orders were regularly given by the highest command. This Central Command (Estado Mayor) was held by the Presidency of the Nationalist Party.
Marching drills were carried out in El Arsenal, in the sector known as La Marina. Veteran militants of the rank and files of the Party carried out the military instruction of the Cadets. The type of military doctrine used varied. In the early 30s, there were also variations in respect to the relative aspect of the command, rank and military doctrine followed by the Cadets of the Republic.
The activities of the Cadets of the Republic across the island was not only limited to local training and disciplinary activities, there were also concentrations of companies in national acts. One such act was the celebrated 6th of April (José de Diego's birthday) of 1934 in the plaza (town square) of Barrio Obrero in Santurce, where Cadet companies from the towns of Utuado, Caguas and Mayagüez participated.
After the incarceration of Don Pedro Albizu Campos in 1936, the development of the Cadets of the Republic as an open military organization was altered. The persecution carried out by the U.S. regime in the island forced the organization to carry out its military training with extreme discretion. During this time, the Cadets of the Republic only participated openly in public national celebrations, such as the commemoration of the Grito de Lares, José de Diego's birthday, etc.
La Masacre de Ponce (the Ponce Massacre)
An example of the repression and persecution against the organization was the incident occurred on March 21 of, 1937, Palm Sunday, when the Cadets of the Republic and the Daughters of Liberty (Hijas de la Libertad) gathered in the city of Ponce for a peaceful and unnarmed demonstration organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. The police opened fire on the demonstrators and killed over 21 innocent people and injured over 150, this tragic act is known as La Masacre de Ponce (the Ponce Massacre). During the massacre, a wounded Cadet by the name of Bolivar Márquez wrote on a wall the following statement followed by three crosses in his own blood before dying:
"Long Live the republic!
Down with the Assasins!
The Cadets of the Republic remained active until 1947, when Don Pedro Albizu Campos returned after having been incarcerated for 10 years in Atlanta, Georgia. The Cadets of the Republic had direct involvement in the military preparations for the armed uprising of October of 1950, known as La Insurrección del 50 (the Insurrection of 1950) or El Grito de Jayuya (the Cry of Jayuya) which ended with 25 dead patriots and Albizu's arrest. After these events, where many brave cadets like Raimundo Díaz Pacheco, offered their lives, the Cadets of the Republic ceased to function as an officially organized military organ of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party.
Raimundo Díaz Pacheco
The Comandante ('Commander') of the Ejército Libertador de Puerto Rico, Raimundo Díaz Pacheco, commanded the Cadets during the Insurrection of 1950 in San Juan and died at the age of 44 during the Nationalist attack on La Fortaleza (the Governor's residense) on October 30th of that year. Díaz Pacheco was encarcelated in federal prison in 1938 for participating in an assasination attempt on federal judge, Roberto A. Cooper, who presided the two court cases against Don Pedro Albizu Campos.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Cadets of the Republic were reorganized in Puerto Rico, now composed of a single body composed of both male and female Cadets. As of 1980, the organization already had two companies, one in Arecibo and one in Vega Baja. The National Comitte (Junta Nacional) in Puerto Rico, as well as the New York City Committee (Junta) of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party are currently reorganizing new bodies of the Cadets of the Republic.
Cadets from the Junta Nacional march to commemorate the Ponce Massacre
The Cadets of the Republic participate in official ceremonies of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, such as parades, funerals and commemorative acts. Cadets in the past carried wooden drill rifles and officers carried ceremonial military sabers (swords). The Cadets always bare the Nationalist symbols, such as the Puerto Rican flag, the Lares flag, and the Nationalist flag. Their weapon of choice today is to be the knowledge of themselves.
Cadets from the Puerto rican Nationalist Junta of New York
"Los jóvenes tienen el deber de defender su Patria con las armas del Conocimiento."
"The youth has the duty to defend the Fatherland with the weapons of Knowledge."
- Don Pedro Albizu Campos
Current Insignia of the Cadets of the Republic
Per saltire sable and argent, a cross potent counterchanged within a bordure argent.
Luz y Progreso
Amor y Caridad
Paz y Justicia
y por supuesto...
"Valor y Sacrificio"