Marcos Xiorro

Although his rebellion was unsuccessful, he achieved legendary status among the island's slave population and has become part of Puerto Rican folklore.

[1][3] 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.

According to his plan, several slaves were to escape from various plantations in Bayamón, which included the haciendas of Angus McBean, Cornelius Kortright, Miguel Andino and Fernando Fernández.

With this critical mass of slaves, all armed and emboldened from a series of quick victories, they would invade the capital city of San Juan, where they would declare Xiorro their king.

[1][3] The Spanish authorities believed that Jean-Pierre Boyer, the president of Haiti, which had gained independence in 1804, following a slave rebellion, contributed to Xiorro's conspiracy.

Some slaves even participated in El Grito de Lares, Puerto Rico's independence revolt against Spanish rule on September 23, 1868.

On March 22, 1873, slavery was finally "abolished" in Puerto Rico but with one significant caveat: the slaves were not fully emancipated — they had to buy their own freedom at whatever price was set by their current owners.

[7] The former slaves earned money by working as shoemakers, by cleaning clothes, or by selling the produce they were allowed to grow in the small patches of land allotted to them by their former masters.

[8] In 2007, Cine del Caribe, S.A. released a film about the slave conspiracy titled El Cimarrón, starring Pedro Telemaco as Marcos Xiorro.