The government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a republican form of government with separation of powers, subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States. Article I of the Constitution of Puerto Rico defines the government and its political power and authority. The powers of the government of Puerto Rico are all delegated by the United States Congress and lack full protection under the U.S. Constitution. Because of this, the head of state of Puerto Rico is the President of the United States.
Commonwealth is a term used by two unincorporated territories of the United States in their full official names, which are the Northern Mariana Islands, whose full name is Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico, which is named Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in English and Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico in Spanish, translating to "Free Associated State of Puerto Rico." The term was also used by the Philippines during most of its period under U.S. sovereignty, when it was officially called the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
The Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) is a unit of the United States Department of the Interior that oversees federal administration of several United States insular areas. It is the successor to the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department, which administered certain territories from 1902 to 1939, and the Office of Territorial Affairs in the Interior Department, which was responsible for certain territories from the 1930s to the 1990s. The word "insular" comes from the Latin word insula ("island").
The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus is a public land-grant research university in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the largest campus in the University of Puerto Rico system in terms of student population and it was Puerto Rico's first public university campus.
Miguel Alberto Romero Lugo is a Puerto Rican lawyer, who is the current Mayor of San Juan. He was also Secretary of Labor and Human Resources of Puerto Rico (2009–2012) and former Chief of Staff of Puerto Rico during Governor Luis Fortuño's administration (2012–2013) and senator for the San Juan District (2017–2020).
Victor Marrero is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
San Antón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and Portugués Urbano, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of Ponce. It is totally enclosed within the Ponce city limits. It was founded in 1818.
The Puerto Rico Department of Correction and Rehabilitation is the law enforcement executive department of the government responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. The department has authority over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population who have broken the law.
The Office of Management and Budget of Puerto Rico —Spanish: Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto de Puerto Rico (OGP)— is a Cabinet-level office, and the largest office within the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico. The main job of the office is to help the governor prepare the budget. The office also measures the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures and see if they comply with the governor's policies. Its current director is Jose I. Marrero Rosado.
The Puerto Rico Army National Guard (PRARNG) — officially designated in Spanish as Guardia Nacional Terrestre de Puerto Rico, but colloquially known as Ejército de la Guardia Nacional de Puerto Rico — is the Army National Guard of the archipelago of Puerto Rico which, together with the Puerto Rico Air National Guard, comprises the Puerto Rico National Guard. PRARNG is the ground-component of the Puerto Rico National Guard under control of the governor of Puerto Rico, currently Pedro Pierluisi, that performs missions equivalent to those of the Army National Guards of the different states of the United States, including ground defense, disaster relief, and control of civil unrest.
The President of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico —commonly called the Speaker of the House — is the highest-ranking officer and the presiding officer of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. The Speaker has voting powers as it is elected amongst the own members of the House as established by Article III of the Constitution of Puerto Rico. The Constitution, however, does not establish its functions and since the House is the only body authorized by the Constitution to regulate its own internal affairs, the functions of the Speaker vary from session to session—save being called "Speaker" as the Constitution establishes. The Speaker is typically elected during the House inaugural session.
The executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico is responsible for executing the laws of Puerto Rico, as well as causing them to be executed. Article IV of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the executive power on the Governor—whom by its nature forms the executive branch.
The Council of Secretaries of Puerto Rico is the group composed by the heads of the executive departments of the government of Puerto Rico. The Council is charged with leading the different sectors of public administration within the government and does not constitute an agency by itself.
The Office of the Chief of Staff of the Governor of Puerto Rico is the umbrella organization and government agency of the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico that manages and oversees all the executive departments of the government of Puerto Rico and almost all executive agencies. The Office is headed by the Puerto Rico Chief of Staff and is composed by the Governor's Advisory Board and all other staff appointed by the chief of staff. The Office of the Chief of Staff is ascribed to the Office of the Governor.
The secretary of family affairs of Puerto Rico leads the Department of Family Affairs of Puerto Rico and all efforts related to the sociology of the family and social work in Puerto Rico.
Ramón Luis Nieves Pérez is a Puerto Rican politician from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). Nieves was elected to the Senate of Puerto Rico in 2012.
The Puerto Rico Commission on Safety and Public Protection is the government agency of the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico that coordinates, manages, and oversees all the public safety agencies and related private organizations in Puerto Rico. The Commission is composed by the Adjutant General, the Fire Chief, the Police Superintendent, and the Director of the State Agency for Emergency and Disaster Management, with one of the aforementioned officers presiding it as the Commissioner of Safety and Public Protection.
The Puerto Rico Commissioner of Safety and Public Protection is the Cabinet-level officer of the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico that leads the Commission on Safety and Public Protection and, as such, coordinates, manages, and oversees all the public safety agencies and related private organizations in Puerto Rico. The Commissioner is appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent from the Senate and can only be selected from those holding the position of Adjutant General, Fire Chief, Police Superintendent, or Director of the State Agency for Emergency and Disaster Management. The office was abolish with the creation of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety.
Palmira N. Ríos is an Afro-Puerto Rican academic who has worked as a professor in New York, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. She has served as a commissioner and president of the Puerto Rican Civil Rights Commission, the first person of color or woman to be appointed to the government body. After serving as the dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration for the University of Puerto Rico, she became the Dean of Academic Affairs for the Río Piedras Campus in 2015. The Bar Association of Puerto Rico honored Ríos with the Martin Luther King Jr.-Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Medal for her efforts to promote racial equality.
Judith Kincade Blake was an American sociologist and demographer. She established the first Department of Demography, at the University of California, Berkeley and was the first holder of an endowed chair, at the University of California, Los Angeles.
