Río Piedras massacre

He believed that Chardón had been placed in charge of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) to "Americanize" the university with the support of the Liberal Party.

In turn, a protest against the group by the pro-Nationalist faction of students denounced Chardón and the Liberal Party as agents of the United States.

Chardón requested that the governor provide armed Puerto Rico Police officers on the university grounds if the situation turned violent.

Two police officers spotted a "suspicious-looking vehicle" and asked the driver, Ramón S. Pagán, and his friend Pedro Quiñones, for identification.

Since the entire Puerto Rico Police took their orders from Colonel Riggs, the Nationalist Party considered him responsible for the massacre.

They attacked and fatally shot the police chief as he was returning home after attending Mass at San Juan's Cathedral.

Rosado and Beauchamp were arrested and were either subjected to summary execution or shot while attempting to escape at Puerto Rico Police headquarters in San Juan.

Senator Muñoz Marín declined unless he was also allowed to condemn the Puerto Rico Police for allegedly executing the two assassins without trial.

[1] Gruening joined US Senator Millard Tydings from Maryland, a Democrat, in a 1943 legislative proposal to grant independence to Puerto Rico.

From its enactment until this day, the act has served as the organic law for the government of Puerto Rico and its relation with the United States.