José Valentin Tormos Diego (2 November 1890 – 24 August 1977) was a Puerto Rican politician and Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1937 to 1941. He is best remembered for under his administration the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party received a permit for a peaceful march, which resulted in the Ponce massacre by Insular Police under authority supplied by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Governor Blanton Winship.Jose Enrique Ayoroa Santaliz. La Masacre de Ponce: Breve relacion de hechos y algunos de sus personajes. Ponce Massacre Museum. March 2011.Informacion sobre Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico: Pueblo a Pueblo. Retrieved 27 November 2011. During his administration he also rebuilt the historic Teatro La Perla, and reconditioned the Teatro La Perla northern annex to be used as headquarters of the municipal public library.
Early years Tormos Diego was the son of Joaquin Tormos and Catalina Diego.Puerto Rico Department of Health. Certificate of Death. Number (Area 152, Year 1977) #56-698. Tormos Diego married Amparo Vega Nevárez on 25 September 1911, in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico,Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001. and they had 6 children: Carmen Amparo, Nelida Mercedes, Ana Luisa, Aida, José, and Gloria.1930 United States Federal Census. One of his children, José G. Tormos Vega, was also mayor of Ponce.
Mayoral selection Antonio M. Delgado had been elected mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1936. However he died before taking office.Alcaldia de Ponce Cuidad Senorial. Iris Antongiorgi Concepcion and Gladys E. Tormes Gonzalez, Ponce Historical Archives. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2011. Jose Tormos Diego was selected by the standing political party to replace Mr. Delgado.
Mayoral term Tormos fell ill of appendicitis during his second year as mayor, in July 1938, and had surgery at a Washington, D.C., area hospital.International News Service Wires. Mayor of Ponce, Jose Tormos Diego, in hospital resting after appendix operation. 26 July 1938.
Tormos Diego is best known for under his administration the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party received a permit for a peaceful march, which resulted in the Ponce massacre by Insular Police under authority supplied by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Governor Blanton Winship.Jose Enrique Ayoroa Santaliz. La Masacre de Ponce: Breve relacion de hechos y algunos de sus personajes. Ponce Massacre Museum. March 2011.Informacion sobre Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico: Pueblo a Pueblo. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
Death and legacy Tormos Diego died on 24 August 1977. The cause of his death was "cirrhosis of the liver", and he was buried at Cementerio Católico San Vicente de Paul in Ponce.Certificado de Defunción. Area 152. Year 1977. Registry 56. Number 698. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico. Division del Registro Demográfico. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001 for José Tormas Diego: Defunciones (Deaths), Ponce, Defunciones 1977-1979, t. 216-219. Accessed 3 February 2019.
During his mayoral administration he rebuilt the historic Teatro La Perla in 1940. During the project he also reconditioned the Teatro La Perla northern annex to be used as headquarters of the municipal public library.Information retrieved from the commemorative plaque in the lobby of Teatro La Perla in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Its complete name in 1940 was "Auditorio y Libreria Publica La Perla". In Ponce there is also a public housing development named after him.
See also Ponce, Puerto Rico List of Puerto Ricans
References
Further reading Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliográfica Anotada. Second Edition. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 173. Item 880. Carnaval de Ponce: programa. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 196x? - . Includes photos. (Archivo Histórico Municipal de Ponce, AHMP; Colegio Universitario Tecnológico de Ponce, CUTPO) Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliografía Anotada. Segunda Edición. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 379. Item 1865. German Castanera Gomez. "Cualquier alcalde hubiese actuado como Tormos Diego." El Diluvio. 26 de enero de 1938. p. 11. (CUTPO) Fay Fowlie de Flores. Ponce, Perla del Sur: Una Bibliografía Anotada. Segunda Edición. 1997. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico en Ponce. p. 26. Item 126. "Edificios públicos en Ponce." Puerto Rico Ilustrado. 5 de noviembre de 1938. p. 30. Includes photo of Jose Tormos Diego. (CUTPO)