Rafael Hernández Colón

Early years and education

Hernández Colón was born October 24, 1936 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to Rafael Hernández Matos and Dora Colón Clavell. Rafael and Dora married in 1934 and had three children. Rafael was the oldest. Rafael had two brothers Jose A. (born 1939) and Cesar A. (1942). Hernandez Colon graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, Pennsylvania, then obtained a bachelor's degree in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1956 where he graduated with honors. In 1959, he obtained his degree in law from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, graduating magna cum laude and as valedictorian of his class. Between 1961 and 1965 he was lecturer on civil procedure at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce.

Political career

Hernández Colón affiliated himself with the Popular Democratic Party (Peoples´ Democratic Party, with Socialist roots), or Partido Popular Democratico (PPD). He served as Associate Commissioner of Public Service under the governorship of Roberto Sánchez Vilella. In 1965 he was named Secretary of the Department of Justice. In 1968 he was elected to the Senate of Puerto Rico, becoming the youngest Senator to hold a seat in the Senate at the time. A young political star, he was President of the Senate from 1968 through 1972. In 1972, he successfully ran for Governor of Puerto Rico.

First term (1973-1977)

Hernández Colón made an effort to get more international firms to invest in Puerto Rico and opposed President Gerald Ford's wishes to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. In 1974, Time Magazine recognized Rafael Hernandez Colón as one of the world's young leaders.

During his first term, the island was wracked by recession, induced by the 1973 oil crisis, which hit Puerto Rico particularly hard because of the many businesses that were directly related to petroleum processing in Puerto Rico (particularly, the Commonwealth Oil Refining Company, CORCO, which operated one of the world's largest oil refineries in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico). Puerto Rico had financed numerous public works with bonds (which matured by the time Hernández became governor), and previous administrations had used the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank (not unlike the Bank of North Dakota in performing duties identical to those of a regional branch of the Federal Reserve) as a revolving credit line with disastrous results, which forced the Hernández Colón administration to devote large sums of the Puerto Rican government's budget to save the bank and honor the bonds' obligations. Hernández lost in 1976 to then Mayor of San Juan, Carlos Romero Barceló. He lost again to Romero Barceló in 1980; the margin of victory in the 1980 elections was small, a 3,000 vote margin out of 1.6 million votes.

Second and third terms (1985-1993)

Hernández Colón ran again against Romero Barceló in the November 1984 elections and was victorious by about 54,000 votes (48 to 45% respectively). He again won re-election in 1988 election, besting his main rival Baltasar Corrada del Río by 49 to 46% ([1]).

As part of his 1984 electoral campaign, Hernandez Colon released a musical album with Puerto Rican country music titled "Ahora Es Que Vamos" ("Here We Go Now").

During this time Puerto Rico experienced an economic boom with GDP growth at 5% during the years 1987-1989 the highest since Operation Bootstrap and the Economic Boom in the United States. Unemployment dropped drastically in his term from an all-time high 25% in 1983 to 12.0% in 1990. He lost popularity with the controversial Pabellon de Sevilla that was an attempt of a representation of Puerto Rico at the Universal Exposition of Seville in 1992. Because of this, in June 1991 Hernández announced that he would not seek re-election. On January 11, Hernandez Colón resigned as President of the Popular Democratic Party, the post he held for 23 years. Senator Victoria Munoz Mendoza succeeded Hernandez Colon as president of the party and would later become a gubernatorial candidate herself.

Family life

Hernández Colón married to Lila Mayoral Wirshing on 24 October 1959. In early 2003, Lila Mayoral Wirshing, died of cancer. Hernandez Colon and Mayoral Wirshing had four children: Rafael, Jose Alfredo, Dora Mercedes and Juan Eugenio. Juan Eugenio Hernandez Mayoral became a senator in the Puerto Rico Senate. Hernández Colón subsequently married attorney Nelsa López in late 2004. He has his main residence in his hometown of Ponce, in the historic downtown district.

Retirement

Rafael Hernández Colon has published various works specializing in law. Among his works are "Procedimiento Civil: Trayectoria Historica de la Autonomia Politica Puertoriqueña" and "Nueva Tesis" (ISBN 84-599-6756-5) which discusses the Puerto Rican Commonwealth's political relationship with the United States.

Currently, Hernández Colón maintains distance from public political engagement, but continues to be involved in Puerto Rico's political affairs assisting active politicians. He occasionally appears at official events. For example, in December 2011, he publicly admitted before the Senate of Puerto Rico that "the U.S. Congress can do as it wishes with Puerto Rico."

Somepolitical analysts speculate that Hernández still exerts a sizeable control over the PDP's party structure, which may rival the current PDP president's.

Legacy

In 2011, creation of the Rafael Hernández Colón Gubernatorial Library was started by the foundation by the same name. It will be located in the Ponce Historic Zone, in barrio Cuarto, just blocks from Plaza Las Delicias. The Library is expected to open its doors in 2015.

Accolades

Hernández Colón has been granted honoris causa degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Seton Hall University. He also has an honorary degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, where he served as a law professor in the university's Law School.

In 1985, Hernández Colón was awarded the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella. In 1987 he was awarded the Cross of Isabel the Catholic by king Juan Carlos I and the government of Spain. That same year he was awarded the "Grand Cordón del Libertador" by the government of Venezuela, the Harvard Foundation Award, and the Spirit of the Caribbean Award. In 1989 he was awarded the Olympic Order Award.

On October 18, 1991 at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo, Spain, Hernandez Colón received the Principe de Asturias de las Letras award that was granted to Puerto Rico by Felipe de Borbón.