Rafael Hernández Colón

Rafael Hernández Colón

Rafael Hernández Colón (born October 24, 1936 in Ponce , Puerto Rico - † May 2, 2019 in San Juan , Puerto Rico) was a Puerto Rican politician .

Life

Hernández was a protégé of the longtime governor Luis Muñoz Marín and was a supporter of his Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), which saw the economic and political ruin of the island in a statehood or sovereignty of Puerto Rico. On January 2, 1965 he was appointed Minister of Justice (Justice Secretary) by Roberto Sánchez Vilella , successor to Muñoz Marín as Governor . In 1968 he was elected Senator and in 1969 also President of the Senate.

In 1972, with the support of his mentor Muñoz Marín, he ran for the first time for the office of governor of Puerto Rico and won against incumbent Luis A. Ferré of the New Progressive Party (PND). After taking office on January 2, 1973, he tried to make Puerto Rico less economically dependent on the United States . He advocated a more important role for Puerto Rico in world trade and an improvement in immigration control, communication and traffic. On the other hand, he favored the retention of the previous Commonwealth status with US citizenship , joint defense conventions and the common economic market. In 1975, he introduced a broad housing program to increase the budget for public works by 20 percent to 600 million US dollars resulted. At the same time, as governor, he was a staunch opponent of any interference by Cuba in the island's affairs, claiming that there were ties between the regime of Fidel Castro and the Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño . During his tenure, he declared the piña colada to be Puerto Rico's national drink.

In 1976 he lost his re-election to his challenger Carlos Antonio Romero Barcelo from the PND. Immediately before he was sworn in as governor, he urged US President Gerald Ford to accept Puerto Rico as the 51st state in the United States . His claim that the state contradicts America's commitment to Puerto Rican self-determination was confirmed by US President Jimmy Carter . In 1980 he lost again the gubernatorial election against Romero Barcelo, the gap in the election result was smaller than in 1976.

In 1984 he was re-elected governor of Puerto Rico and was after his re-election in 1988 from January 2, 1985 to January 2, 1993 in office. In 1992 he refused to run again and withdrew from active political life.

Hernández Colón was a member of the Club of Rome .

Web links

• rulers.org (English)
• Entry with the NGA