Puerto Rico Republican Party

History

Once the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, a wing of the Autonomist Party, an old party from Spanish colonial times, founded The Republican Party on July 4, 1899. This new party favored joining the United States as a federated state and was led by Dr. José Celso Barbosa. The party was ideologically conservative and was seen as representing the island's large sugar industry.

In 1924 the party split into two factions. One faction joined with the Union Party to form the Alianza (The Alliance), a pro-autonomy group. The other faction, renaming itself the Pure Republican Party, joined with the Socialist Party to form the pro-statehood Coalición (The Coalition).

In 1932, part of the Alianza returned to the Pure Republican Party, and the party was renamed the Republican Union. The Republican Union eventually dissolved in the 1930s and became the Puerto Rican Republican Party.

In 1967 a split in the Republican Statehood Party between leaders Miguel A. García Méndez and Luis A. Ferré over the 1967 status plebiscite led to the formation of the New Progressive Party (NPP). The division caused the Republican Statehood Party to be dissolved after the 1968 elections when it did not poll the number of votes necessary to retain its party registration. The New Progressive Party went on to win the 1968 elections.

The Republican Party of Puerto Rico believes in equality and full citizenship rights for U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico, which can only be achieved through statehood for Puerto Rico. The Republican Party of Puerto Rico supports the right of American citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted into the Union as a fully sovereign state if they freely determine it. We recognize that Congress has the final authority to define the constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico to achieve a permanent non-territorial status with government consent and full enfranchisement. November 2012 opened the future of Puerto Ricans when they rejected the current territorial status and voted for statehood in the public and legal plebiscite held on November 6, 2012. 78.0% of the voting population went out to the polls to exercise their right to vote. 61.1% of those voters expressed their desire that Puerto Rico should be a State and rejected the other two status options. Puerto Rico clearly chose to reject territorial status. That is no longer an option.

The Republican Party nowadays effectively functions as the conservative wing of the PNP. Luis Fortuño was re-elected by the Republican Party of Puerto Rico's General Assembly to continue serving as National Committeeman, a position he has held since 2001. He won reelection as National Committeeman in the GOP convention held on May 20, 2007 and once again in 2011 in Yauco, Puerto Rico. The National Committeewoman is attorney Zoraida Fonalledas. The Vice presidents of the Party are Abel Nazario, Mayor of Yauco, and former Speaker of the Territorial House of Representatives, Jenniffer González. The Electoral Commissioner is José E. Meléndez, Member of the Territorial House Representatives.

November 1, 2015 The Delegates of the party, 1,235 in total, in an assembly in Yauco, Puerto Rico. There Jenniffer González second co chair in that moment was elected to be the next Chairperson of the Local Republican Party. She is the first Chairwoman in the Republican Party of the Island of Puerto Rico. At the same time the delegates elected once again as National Committepersons, Luis Fortuño and Zoraida Fonalledas. Abel Nazario was elected First Co-Chair and Jorge San Miguel, Second Co-Chair, At the same time they announced, the Republican Presidential Primaries to be held on March 6, 2016 after Super Tuesday Elections. In February 2016 they announced that in the Primaries the Party is supporting Marco Rubio for the Republican Presidential Primaries in the island.