Federico Degetau

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Federico Degetau

Federico Degetau y González (born December 5, 1862 in Ponce , Puerto Rico , † January 20, 1914 in Santurce , San Juan , Puerto Rico) was the first delegate resident commissioner of his home in the US House of Representatives . In addition to his political activities, he also worked as a lawyer and writer.

Life

Degetau attended the Central College of Ponce and studied in Barcelona . At the Complutense University of Madrid , he managed a degree in law . He was admitted to the Bar and practiced in Madrid. He founded the newspaper La Isla de Puerto Rico to convey the plight of Puerto Rico to the colonial power.

Degetau returned to his homeland and was one of the four commissioners sent in 1895 under the direction of Luis Muñoz Rivera to ask Spain for autonomy. The petition was rejected, but three years later the US Congress established a civilian colonial government. Degetau settled in San Juan and continued to work as a lawyer.

In 1897 he became a member of the municipal council of the capital and in 1898 its mayor. In the same year he represented Puerto Rico as a member of the Spanish Cortes Generales . After the Spanish-American War , the Military Governor General Guy Vernor Henry appointed him Secretary of the Interior of the first cabinet under American rule in Puerto Rico in 1899. His successor, General George Whitefield Davis , appointed him a member of the Insular Board of Charities .

Degetau joined the island's Republican Party , founded in 1899 . In 1899 and 1900 he was the first Vice President of the San Juan City Council, in 1900 and 1901 President of the Board of Education . As a Republican, he was elected Resident Commissioner in 1900 and re-elected two years later. He was a member of the 56th, 57th and 58th US Congresses. He was also a member of the Committee on Insular Affairs and submitted a federal law to allow Puerto Ricans to become citizens of the United States, but failed. Since he was not re-elected in 1904, he returned to his legal practice.

As a writer, he wrote the works El secreto de la domadora (1886), Que Quijote !, Cuentos para el camino (1894), Juventud (1895) and La Injuria (1893).

After his death in 1914, he was buried in the San Juan cemetery.

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personal data
SURNAME Degetau, Federico
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Degetau y González, Federico (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Puerto Rican politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 5, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Ponce , Puerto Rico
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1914
Place of death Santurce , San Juan, Puerto Rico