Manuel Fernández Juncos

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Manuel Fernández Juncos

Manuel Fernández Juncos (born December 11, 1846 in Ribadesella , Spain , † August 18, 1928 in San Juan , Puerto Rico ) was a journalist, poet, author and humanitarian aid worker . He wrote the official text for the Puerto Rican national anthem La Borinqueña .

At a young age, Juncos emigrated from Asturias to Puerto Rico, where he spent the rest of his life. He first wrote for the newspaper El Progreso (The Progress), founded by José Julián Acosta . He was also active for Porvenir and El Clamor del País and founded the liberal newspaper El Buscapie , which became the most widely read newspaper in Puerto Rico. Juncos promoted a socialist agenda that included free education for every child and founded the Revista Puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican magazine).

As a writer, he studied the roots of the Puerto Rican people. His best-known works include Tipos y Caracteres , Libro Cuarto de Lectura and Canciones Escolares , which he wrote with Virgilio Dávila and Braulio Dueño Colón .

Juncos became secretary of Román Baldorioty de Castro's Autonomist Party . When Spain granted autonomy to Puerto Rico, he was elected first secretary of state . Less than a year later, however, the US invaded Puerto Rico as part of the Spanish-American War , which resulted in the abolition of the government.

Juncos founded the Puerto Rico Red Cross , which still provides humanitarian aid today .

He wrote today's text on La Borinqueña , which was originally a danza by Francisco Ramirez from 1860 (some sources also refer to Felix Astol Artés and the year 1867). The original text for the hymn, written by Lola Rodríguez de Tió in 1868, seemed too subversive for public use. In 1903 there was a public competition for a new text, which Juncos won. This explains why the native Asturian was allowed to write the lines “The land of Borinquen, where I was born”. In 1952, La Borinqueña became the national anthem of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The government of Puerto Rico honored Juncos after his death by naming a school in Mayagüez and one of the main commercial routes in San Juan after him.