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On March 21, 1937, a peaceful march was organized by the Nationalist Party to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico in 1873 by the governing Spanish National Assembly. The police, under the orders of General Blanton Winship, the US-appointed colonial Governor of Puerto Rico, opened fire at the peaceful Puerto Rican Nationalist Party parade, bringing about what came to be known as the "Ponce massacre": 19 people (including two policemen) were killed and over 100 were wounded.[55] This occurred because the head of the police force in Juana Díaz, Guillermo Soldevila, raised a whip and struck the chest of Tomás Lopez de Victoria, the captain of the cadet corps, and told him to stop the march. As a result, a police officer, Armando Martinez, ran from the corner in front of the Nationalist council and fired once into the air. This prompted many others to fire their arms. On July 25, 1938, a little over a year after the Ponce massacre, Governor Winship ordered a military parade take place in the city of Ponce in celebration of the American invasion of Puerto Rico. Such celebrations customarily took place in San Juan, the capital of the colonial government. At the parade, an attempt was made to assassinate Winship, allegedly by members of the Nationalist Party. It was the first time in Puerto Rico's long history that an attempt had been made against a governor. Although Winship escaped unscathed, a total of 36 people were wounded, including a colonel in the National Guard and the Nationalist gunman.