Julio Vizcarrondo

Julio Vizcarrondo Coronado (December 9, 1829 – 1889) was a Puerto Rican abolitionist, journalist, politician and religious leader. He played an instrumental role in the development and passage of the Moret Law which in 1873 abolished slavery in Puerto Rico. Vizcarrondo was also the founder of the Protestant movement in the Iberian Peninsula in the 19th century.

Early years Vizcarrondo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Dr. Jose Bonifacio Vizcarrondo y Ortiz de Zarate and María Josefa Coronado y Martínez. His family were the owners of slaves who worked their Hacienda. Vizcarrondo received his primary education in the capital city of Puerto Rico and his secondary education in Madrid, Spain and Paris, France.

Journalist Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Vizcarrondo began to write for a local newspaper, where he expressed his liberal ideas and his position against slavery. The Spanish government considered his remarks as treacherous, and the appointed governor of the island, Lieutenant General Juan de la Pezuela y Cevallos (1848–1851), ordered his exile to the United States.

In Madrid In 1863, Vizcarrondo moved to Madrid where he joined other Puerto Ricans and Cubans who were also abolitionists. During his stay, Spain suffered the consequences of a cholera plague. Vizcarrondo and his friends founded the "Sociedad de Amigos de los Pobres" (The Society of the Friends of the Poor), an organization which helped to rescue, feed and assist those who were most affected by the cholera plague. He also offered his house as a temporary hospital. The government of Spain awarded him a medal in recognition of his heroic deeds during the cholera epidemic. He later co-founded the "Hospital del Niño Jesús” (Baby Jesus Hospital). Despite this setback, on January 24, 1869 he was able to convince the mayor of Madrid to grant the members of the Protestant faith permission to hold their religious services in public.

Political career Vizcarrondo joined the Spanish Republican Party. He helped in the preparation of the Liberal Revolution as Secretary of the revolutionary committee of Madrid. When the government discovered his role, he was exiled to France. He returned to Spain shortly after the revolution triumphed. Once again he was given a position in the revolutionary committee of Madrid, and he helped reorganize the Sociedad Abolicionista (Abolitionist Society). In 1873, Vizcarrondo – together with Ramon Baldorioty de Castro, Luis Padial and the Minister of Overseas Affairs, Segismundo Moret – presented a proposal for the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico and Cuba. On March 22, 1873, the Spanish Government approved the proposal which became known as the Moret Law.

Later years and legacy On May 1, 1880, Vizcarrondo and Rafael María de Labra became the founders of the Sociedad Nacional Democrática (National Democratic Society), a political party whose main goal was to obtain more autonomy for both Puerto Rico and Cuba. In 1886, he was elected and served as a representative from the district of Ponce to the Cortes in Madrid, a post he held until his death in 1889. At the Spanish Parliament, Vizcarrondo recommended an autonomy modeled after the type that Canada had at that moment. In 1887, he participated in a massive campaign directed against the Spanish appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Romualdo Palacio González, which resulted in the governor's replacement. Julio Vizcarrondo Coronado died in 1889, in Madrid.