La Experiencia Abolicionista de Puerto Rico

This work presents a vivid snapshot of the Spanish abolitionist movement’s struggle to enforce the 1873 law ending slavery in Puerto Rico. Written as a formal appeal to the Minister of Overseas Affairs, it details the Society’s painstaking research—citing official reports, foreign consular observations, and contemporary newspaper commentary—to argue that the newly issued regulations contradict the spirit and letter of the emancipation legislation.

The authors lay out three key grievances: the failure to honor compensation clauses for former slave owners, the neglect of stipulated timelines, and the broader disconnect between the governor’s decree and the law’s intended outcomes. Their plea combines legal reasoning with moral urgency, urging the government to revise the August 1874 regulations and fully implement the March law. Listeners will hear the tension between bureaucratic inertia and the hopeful drive of activists seeking true freedom for the island’s enslaved population.