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Pedro Pierluisi | |
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Governor of Puerto Rico | |
Assumed office January 2, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Wanda Vázquez Garced |
De facto August 2,2019 –August 7,2019 [lower-alpha 1] | |
Preceded by | Ricardo Rosselló |
Succeeded by | Wanda Vázquez Garced |
Secretary of State of Puerto Rico | |
Acting July 31,2019 –August 2,2019 | |
Preceded by | María Marcano de León (acting) |
Succeeded by | María Marcano de León (acting) |
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico | |
In office January 3,2009 –January 3,2017 | |
Preceded by | Luis Fortuño |
Succeeded by | Jenniffer González |
Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico | |
In office January 2,1993 –January 2,1997 | |
Governor | Pedro Rosselló |
Preceded by | Héctor Rivera Cruz |
Succeeded by | JoséFuentes Agostini |
Personal details | |
Born | Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia tu mama April 26,1959 San Juan,Puerto Rico |
Political party | New Progressive |
Other political affiliations | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | María Eugenia Rojo (m. 1981;div. 1998) María Elena Carrión (m. 2007;div. 2019) |
Children | 4 |
Relatives | JoséJaime Pierluisi (brother) |
Residence | La Fortaleza |
Education | Tulane University (BA) George Washington University (JD) |
Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia (born April 26,1959) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer currently serving as governor of Puerto Rico since January 2,2021. He has previously served as secretary of justice,resident commissioner,acting secretary of state,de facto governor of Puerto Rico and as private attorney for Puerto Rico's fiscal oversight board under the Puerto Rico Oversight,Management,and Economic Stability Act. He is a member of the New Progressive Party and the Democratic Party of the United States.
Pierluisi was born on April 26,1959,in San Juan,Puerto Rico. His parents are Jorge Pierluisi Díaz and Doris Urrutia. He attended Colegio Marista Guaynabo in Guaynabo,graduating in 1977. In 1981,he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in American History from Tulane University,and later earned a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University Law School in 1984. He was President of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association chapter at Tulane University. [1] Later,he was president of the George Washington University Law Society International from 1982 to 1983. During his studies at George Washington University,Pierluisi interned at the congressional office of then-Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Baltasar Corrada del Río. [2]
Pierluisi first practiced law as a private attorney in Washington,D.C. from 1984 to 1990. [3] He was one of the principal attorneys representing the Government of Peru in its lawsuit against the Hunt Brothers,Nelson Bunker,William Herbert,and Lamar for attempting to corner the silver market in the late 1970s [4] He then practiced law in Puerto Rico from 1990 until 1993. [5]
In 1993,Governor Pedro Rossello nominated Pierluisi to serve as Puerto Rico's Secretary of Justice. His nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Puerto Rican legislature. [6]
In 1993,Pedro Rosselló,upon his election as Governor of Puerto Rico,appointed Pedro Pierluisi as the Secretary of Justice (Attorney General) for his administration. Pierluisi's confirmation was unanimously approved by the Senate of Puerto Rico. [7] In 1994,Pierluisi collaborated with President Bill Clinton's administration,contributing to the efforts that led to the enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. [8] Pierluisi concluded his term as Attorney General in January 1997.
On May 18,2007,Pedro Pierluisi declared his candidacy for the position of Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico,a role that serves as the island's sole representative in the U.S. Congress. In the 2008 elections,Pierluisi was elected by a significant margin. He was part of the New Progressive Party ticket alongside then-Resident Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Luis Fortuño,following a narrowly contested primary within the party. Pierluisi endorsed Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination and served as a co-chair for Obama's campaign efforts in Puerto Rico. [9] [10]
On May 15,2013,Pierluisi introduced legislation advocating for the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the United States. [11]
In 2015,Pedro Pierluisi announced his intention to run for Governor of Puerto Rico. However,he was defeated in the primary elections held on June 5,2016,by Ricky Rosselló,who subsequently became the president of the New Progressive Party and went on to win the governorship. [12]
On May 18,2007,Pierluisi announced his candidacy for Resident Commissioner,Puerto Rico's sole delegate to the United States Congress in the November 2008 elections. He accompanied then current Resident Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Luis Fortuño in the March 9,2008 NPP primary ticket. He was Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner in the US Congress from 2009 to 2016.
Pierluisi is a member of the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico which advocates statehood for the Island territory. While on Capitol Hill,Pierluisi caucused with the House Democratic Caucus. [13]
As Resident Commissioner,Pierluisi introduced H.R. 2499,which sought to provide for a plebiscite to be held in Puerto Rico to determine the island's ultimate political status. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives but did not receive a vote in the Senate,and lapsed following the sine die adjournment of the 111th Congress. In a separate bill,H.R. 870,Pierluisi sought to add Puerto Rico to Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code so that the island's government-owned corporations could file for bankruptcy —a privilege they do not enjoy due to the territory's exclusion from the code.
On May 15,2013,Pierluisi filed H.R. 2000,a bill to admit Puerto Rico as a state. [14]
Prior to being elected,Pierluisi was de facto governor of Puerto Rico for five days in August 2019. On July 31 of that year,the embattled governor,Ricardo Rosselló,nominated Pierluisi to serve as Secretary of State of Puerto Rico following a political crisis caused by contentious talks,which culminated in a series of protests and the governor's resignation. [15] Before his resignation became effective,Ricardo Rossellóconfirmed Pierluisi as his successor as governor of Puerto Rico. He invoked Act 7 of July 24,1952 to justify Pierluisi's swearing in. He noted that this law states that "it shall not be necessary for the Secretary of State to have been confirmed to assume the governorship on a permanent basis. "Pierluisi was sworn in as governor at 5:01 p.m. at a private residence. [16]
While Pierluisi took office as the acting secretary of state,his position was to be confirmed by the Puerto Rican Senate and the House of Representatives. The following day,members of the Puerto Rican Senate announced that action on his nomination would not occur until August 1. He was sworn into the role as a recess appointment on August 2.
Rossellóthen summoned Puerto Rico's Legislative Assembly for them to issue their advice and consent. The House of Representatives approved his nomination 26–21. [17] Following Roselló’s resignation on August 2,Pierluisi declared himself governor,although he had not been confirmed by both the House and the Senate as secretary of state,and Pierluisi affirmed Rosselló's declaration.
On August 5,the Puerto Rico Senate filed a lawsuit against his appointment as governor by contending that unless he obtained the Senate's assent,his governorship was unconstitutional. [18] After a petition from the Senate of Puerto Rico on August 7,Pierluisi's accession to the governorship was challenged in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. [19] The Puerto Rico Supreme Court ruled that the law that enabled his swearing in was unconstitutional and ordered the succession take place per Law 7 of 1952,as opposed to Law 7 of 2005. Thus,he was the shortest-serving official in that position in Puerto Rico's history.
The legality of Pierluisi's inauguration was immediately challenged. Puerto Rican human rights activist,Samy Nemir-Olivares,announced intentions to take the matter to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court through a Twitter post,referring to Pierluisi's swearing-in as a "coup d'état." The Supreme Court was expected to determine the constitutionality of the inauguration. Following a petition from the Senate of Puerto Rico,shortly after assuming office,Pierluisi made his way to La Fortaleza,the governor's official residence,to deliver an official statement. [16]
On August 16,2020,Pierluisi won the PNP gubernatorial primary race against governor Wanda Vázquez Garced. With 75.6% of voting stations reporting,Pierluisi has won about 57.9% of the votes over Vazquez's 42.1%,clinching the nomination for New Progressive Party. [20] [21] On November 3,2020,Pierluisi was elected as the Governor of Puerto Rico. He received approximately 32.9% of all the votes,distributed among 6 candidates that ran for office. [22]
On Saturday,January 2,2021,Pierluisi took the oath of office. At 8:00 a.m.,there was a private ceremony in which he took the oath from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,Maite Oronoz Rodríguez. [23] This had been followed by a public ceremony on the northern side of the Capitol of Puerto Rico,where Pierluisi retook the oath of office publicly and gave his inaugural address. [24]
In February 2023,Pedro Pierluisi pleaded before the Senate in Washington D.C. for the United States of America to approve the bill which provides for an electoral consultation in Puerto Rico between the options of American statehood,independence or of independence in free association with the United States of America. [25]
On January 2,2021,Pierluisi was inaugurated as Governor of Puerto Rico in a ceremony that,despite being well-attended,was held with a lower number of participants compared to previous events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most notable international attendee at the ceremony was Luis Abinader,the President of the Dominican Republic. [26] [27]
Pedro Pierluisi,similar to previous governors from the New Progressive Party (NPP),advocated for Puerto Rico's statehood during his campaign. Following the 2020 general election,in which a plebiscite was held regarding the island's political status,Pierluisi vetoed a bill from the House that aimed to repeal HB-65-2020 and HB-167-2020. [28] These pieces of legislation were designed to facilitate an election for selecting statehood lobbyists,whose role would be to advocate for Puerto Rico's statehood before the U.S. Congress.
On January 24,2021,in response to the increasing incidents of gender-based violence,the Governor of Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency regarding this issue. This action came in the aftermath of the tragic murder of Andrea Ruiz by her ex-partner,an event that the Governor cited as a clear failure of the system to protect victims of domestic violence. Consequently,he directed the Secretary of Justice to ensure,whether through legislative or regulatory means,that a public prosecutor is always present in cases of domestic violence,aiming to strengthen the legal response to such incidents. [29]
On March 15,the Governor announced that the State of Emergency regarding maritime transportation to the islands of Vieques and Culebra would need to continue until 2022,coinciding with the conclusion of the privatization process for the ferry service. [30] This statement came in the wake of protests concerning the ferry service,which escalated into confrontations between the protesters and law enforcement agents. In response to these events,the Governor expressed his support for the actions taken by the United Rapid Action Forces (FURA),a specialized unit of the Puerto Rico Police Department. [31]
During the tenure of the Governor,a notable conflict arose between the executive branch and the legislature over the nomination of Elba Aponte for the position of Secretary of Education. Following a hearing,the House of Representatives declined to approve Aponte's nomination. Consequently,on April 17,the Governor retracted the nomination of Elba Aponte for this key cabinet position. [32] [33]
In response to demands from various sectors to terminate the government's agreement with LUMA Energy,the Governor expressed criticism of these appeals. He asserted that the contract with LUMA Energy would not lead to higher electricity costs for consumers and argued that privatizing the power grid represents the best interest for the island's future. [34]
On October 1,2023,Pedro Pierluisi announced his intention to run for a second term as Governor of Puerto Rico during an event held at the Puerto Rico Convention Center. This announcement was made in the presence of prominent leaders from the New Progressive Party (NPP),including former Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero. Pierluisi is set to compete in the primary elections against Jenniffer González,the current Resident Commissioner and his former running mate in the 2020 elections. [35]
On March 20,2022,during the New Progressive Party's general assembly,governor Pedro Pierluisi announced that he would run for a second term.[ citation needed ] In an interview on August 28,he reaffirmed the press that he would be in fact running again,stating that "Puerto Rico is moving forward and there is no one who can stop us" and that they were "going to beat the PDP". [36]
Governor Pierluisi is the father of four adult children:Antonio,Miguel,Rafael,and Jacqueline. He is the grandfather of five grandchildren.
His first marriage was to María Eugenia Rojo,with whom he shares his four children. They married on June 20,1981 but divorced in the late 1990s. Pierluisi married again in 2007 to businesswoman María Elena Carrión. However,the couple divorced in 2019,after twelve years of marriage. The Governor is currently single although he's been in a relationship with attorney Fabiola Ansótegui since March 2020. [37] The couple announced their engagement on December 10,2023. [38]
Pierluisi's father,Jorge Pierluisi,served as Secretary of Puerto Rico's Housing Department under Gov. Carlos Romero Barceló from 1977 to 1985. His brother,JoséJaime Pierluisi,an economic adviser to then governor Pedro Rossello,was shot and killed during a carjacking in 1994. [39]
The New Progressive Party is a political party in Puerto Rico that advocates statehood. The PNP is one of the two major parties in Puerto Rico with significant political strength and currently holds both the seat of the governor and of the resident commissioner.
Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013.
Thomas Rivera Schatz is a Puerto Rican politician, legal advisor, attorney, and former prosecutor, who was the fourteenth and sixteenth President of the Senate of Puerto Rico. He is affiliated with New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico and the mainland Democratic Party. On July 22, 2019, Rivera Schatz announced that he will take over as acting chair of the PNP following the resignation of Ricardo Rosselló due to the Telegramgate scandal.
General elections were held in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, to elect the officials of the Government of Puerto Rico that would serve for the next four years, most notably the Governor of Puerto Rico.
Jenniffer Aydin González Colón is a Puerto Rican politician who serves as the 20th Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. González has served in leadership positions in the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (PNP) and in the Republican Party of the United States. These positions included being the chairwoman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party, speaker and minority leader of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, and vice-chair of the PNP. González is the youngest person to be Resident Commissioner and the first woman to hold the role.
Charles Anthony Rodríguez-Colón is a New York City-born Puerto Rican politician affiliated with the New Progressive Party (NPP). He served as the eleventh president of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1997 until 2000.
The Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association (PRSSA) —Spanish: Asociación de Estudiantes Estadistas de Puerto Rico— is a Puerto Rican non-profit student organization dedicated to promoting statehood for Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1979, and remained active for two years, becoming inactive 1981–1993, active again 1993 to 1997, inactive once more 1997 to 2007, when it was reactivated once again.
Manuel A. Torres-Nieves, Puerto Rico's longest-serving secretary of the Senate of Puerto Rico in modern times, first served during the tumultuous years of 2005–2008 in which the Senate was controlled by the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (NPP) while the governorship had been controlled by the pro-status quo Popular Democratic Party, served a second consecutive term as Senate Secretary after having served as Acting President of the Senate from January 1–12, 2009, between the Senate presidencies of Kenneth McClintock and Thomas Rivera Schatz. He then served as Puerto Rico's first Electoral Comptroller before his third election as secretary of the Senate during Rivera Schatz' historic second non-consecutive term as Senate President, which ended January 11, 2021. On March 11, 2021, Governor Pedro Pierluisi nominated him as Comptroller of Puerto Rico, a constitutional role which requires the advice and consent of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree. Acevedo Vilá has held various public service positions in the Puerto Rico government under the Popular Democratic Party, serving as a member of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico (1993–2001) and as the 17th Resident Commissioner (2001–2005), before he was sworn in as Governor on 2 January 2005. Acevedo Vilá was also a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association and the Democratic Governors Association, and a collaborator of President Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Also he is currently an adjunct professor of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law. He unsuccessfully ran for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in the 2020 elections for the Popular Democratic Party.
Ricardo Antonio Rosselló Nevares is a former governor of Puerto Rico who served from 2017 until his resignation in 2019 after overwhelming protests related to the Telegramgate scandal. He is the son of former governor of Puerto Rico and pediatric surgeon Pedro Rosselló.
The 2008 New Progressive Party primaries were the primary elections by which voters of the New Progressive Party (PNP) chose its nominees for various political offices of Puerto Rico, namely the position of governor, for the 2008 general elections. Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño was selected as the nominee at the primary elections held on March 9, 2008. He would go on to win the 2008 general election as well.
Manuel Cidre Miranda is a Cuban-born Puerto Rican businessman and politician who currently serves as the 7th Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce of Puerto Rico since 2021, under governor Pedro Pierluisi. On December 1, 2015 he became an official candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico in the 2016 Gubernatorial Elections. He lost the election to Ricardo Rosselló.
Wanda Emilia Vázquez Garced is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 2019 to 2021. Prior to her tenure as governor, she served as the 19th secretary of Justice, from 2017 to 2019. A member of the New Progressive Party and Republican Party of Puerto Rico, Vázquez is the second female governor in Puerto Rican history, after Sila María Calderón. She assumed the office following the resignation of Ricardo Roselló, and the judicial annulation of Pedro Pierluisi's short-lived government, in the aftermath of the Telegramgate Scandal. On August 16, 2020, she failed to secure the New Progressive Party nomination for Governor of Puerto Rico in the 2020 elections, losing to Pedro Pierluisi.
Telegramgate, also known as Chatgate or RickyLeaks, was a political scandal involving Ricardo Rosselló, then Governor of Puerto Rico, which began on July 8, 2019, with the leak of hundreds of pages of a group chat on the messaging application Telegram between Rosselló and members of his cabinet. The messages were considered vulgar, misogynistic, racist, and homophobic toward several individuals and groups, and discussed how they would use the media to target potential political opponents. The leak came in the midst of allegations by former Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico, Raúl Maldonado Gautier, that his department boasted an "institutional mafia" that Rosselló was involved in. The leaks also came a year after a previous scandal, dubbed WhatsApp Gate, involving other members of Rosselló's cabinet.
The 2020 New Progressive Party primaries was the primary elections by which voters of the New Progressive Party (PNP) chose its nominees for various political offices of Puerto Rico for 2020. The primaries, originally scheduled for June 2020, were delayed until August 9, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The August 9 elections, however, were marred by a lack of ballots leading a suspension of the election; polling locations that could not open on August 9 were scheduled to be open for voting on August 16. The winner for the party's nomination for Governor of Puerto Rico is Pedro Pierluisi, former Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico and acting Governor after Ricardo Rosselló's resignation, over incumbent Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced.
General elections were held in Puerto Rico on November 3, 2020, to elect the officials of the Puerto Rican government who will serve from January 2021 to January 2025, most notably the position of Governor and Resident Commissioner. In addition, there was a non-binding status referendum to ask voters if Puerto Rico should become the 51st state of the Union.
The 2024 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect the governor of Puerto Rico, concurrently with the election of the Resident Commissioner, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the mayors of the 78 municipalities. Incumbent New Progressive Party Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia is running for re-election to a second term in office.
The government of Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia was formed in the weeks following the 2020 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election as he released a list of nominees for most of the positions before his swearing in on 2 January 2021. His New Progressive Party (PNP) not having a majority in either chamber of the 19th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico meant that he would have to further negotiate the approval of his nominees with the opposition parties that hold control of the legislature.
The government of Wanda Vázquez Garced was formed the week following the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares as a result of the massive protests resulting from the Telegramgate scandal, and a Supreme Court decision that vacated the office from an invalid occupant.
The government of Ricardo Rosselló Nevares was formed in the weeks following the 2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election and ended prematurely on the first week of August 2019.