Puerto Rico celebrates all official U.S. holidays, and other official holidays established by the Commonwealth government. Additionally, many municipalities celebrate their own Patron Saint Festivals, as well as festivals honoring cultural icons like bomba y plena, danza, salsa, hamacas (hammocks), and popular crops such as plantains and coffee.
Caja de Muertos is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Ponce. The island and its surrounding waters are protected by the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve, because of its native turtle traffic and ecological value of its dry forests and reefs. Hikers and beachgoers are often seen in the island, which can be reached by ferry from the La Guancha Boardwalk sector of Ponce Playa. Together with Cardona, Ratones, Morrillito, Isla del Frio, Gatas, and Isla de Jueyes, Caja de Muertos is one of seven islands ascribed to the municipality of Ponce.
Milla de Oro is both the popular name given to the main central business district of San Juan and a nickname given to the sections of Juan Ponce de León Avenue and Luis Muñoz Rivera Avenue that cross Hato Rey Norte from north to south. It encompasses the largest agglomeration of corporate investment, banking and finance institutions in the Caribbean. The headquarters of Puerto Rico's largest retail investment bank, Popular, Inc., are located at Popular Center in 208 Juan Ponce de León Ave. La Milla de Oro is served by the Tren Urbano stations of Hato Rey, Roosevelt, Domenech and Piñero stations in addition to numerous bus routes with connections to Río Piedras, Plaza Las Américas, Santurce and Old San Juan.
The economy of Puerto Rico is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and as the most competitive economy in Latin America by the World Economic Forum. The main drivers of Puerto Rico's economy are manufacturing, which primarily includes pharmaceuticals, textiles, petrochemicals, and electronics; followed by the service industry, notably finance, insurance, real estate, and tourism. The geography of Puerto Rico and its political status are both determining factors on its economic prosperity, primarily due to its relatively small size as an island; its lack of natural resources used to produce raw materials, and, consequently, its dependence on imports; as well as its relationship with the United States federal government, which controls its foreign policies while exerting trading restrictions, particularly in its shipping industry.
The Puerto Rico Department of Sports and Recreation is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico responsible of sports and recreation in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Puerto Rico. As of April 2022 the current interim Secretary is Anaí Rodríguez after the resignation of Rafael A. Machargo. As of November 2020 the department has 1,096 employees.
The Department of Transportation and Public Works is the Executive Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that regulates transportation and public works in Puerto Rico. The agency's headquarters are located in San Juan.
The Puerto Rico Department of Consumer Affairs (PRDCA) or Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor de Puerto Rico — is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico responsible of defending and protecting consumers in the U.S. Commonwealth. The department is headed by a Cabinet-level Secretary, appointed by the Governor and subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
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—who by its nature forms the executive branch.
Reserva Natural Punta Cucharas is a nature reserve in Barrio Canas, Ponce, Puerto Rico. It consists of both a land area component as well as an offshore marine area. The land component has an area of 698 cuerdas while the marine component has an expanse of 3,516 cuerdas, for a total area of 4,214 cuerdas. The Reserve consists of mangrove ecosystems, coastal sand dunes, a saline lagoon known as Laguna Las Salinas, open water, and a century-old local community. The lagoon occupies and area of 347,898 m2 Ecological protection is managed and enforced by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Eight activities are allowed at the Reserve: scuba diving, boating, fishing, hiking, sun bathing, photography, bird watching and canoeing. Activities prohibited are: Camping, crabbing/trapping, horseback riding, water crafting, and hunting. Pets, ATVs, and fireplaces are also prohibited.
Carlos José Saavedra-Gutiérrez is a Puerto Rican lawyer and current counsel at Jackson Lewis. Saavedra served in several high profile positions within the Government of Puerto Rico, including Secretary of Labor and Human Resources. Saavedra also served as Chief Legal Officer of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority of Puerto Rico, where he supervised and coordinated Puerto Rico's legal strategy as part of the largest bankruptcy-like municipal restructuring in the history of the United States.
Bosque del Pueblo is one of the 20 forest units that make up the public forest system of Puerto Rico. The 738-acres forest is located in the municipality of Adjuntas and it comprises a preserved zone which was endangered of being developed as a quarry between the years 1980 and 1995. The forest is located in lands shared by the Adjuntas barrios or districts of Vegas Arriba, Vegas Abajo and Pellejas de Adjuntas. In addition to preserving the forest, the reserve is important to the preservation of the hydrological basins of the Pellejas and Viví Rivers, and many of the tributaries of the Arecibo River have their sources in the forest lands. The forest also functions as an ecological corridor between the Guilarte, Río Abajo and Toro Negro Forests.
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 Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Muñoz Marín was that of the first elected governor. In addition to that, it was the first whose cabinet did not receive the advice and consent of the United States Senate, but from the Puerto Rico Senate. This all came as part of the 1947 Puerto Rico Elective Governor Act. During this government, the Puerto Rican people addressed via Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950's mechanism the creation of their own constitution, which was ratified and enacted in the latter months of the Muñoz Marín government, which reconfigured the system of government by creating the Puerto Rico Council of Secretaries and enlarged the Legislative Assembly's chambers. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was established, and the 1952 Commonwealth Constitution is, with some amendments, the current constitution of the archipelago.
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.
This third government of Luis Muñoz Marín followed his second reelection. In many ways it was a continuation of the previous government, with some changes in positions such as the Secretary of Justice, Agriculture, and the same amount of supermajoritarian control of the Senate of Puerto Rico and House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, while the opposition composition shifted from being led by the Puerto Rican Independence Party to the Partido Estadista Republicano, their presence bolstered by virtue of the effects of Article III, Section 7 of the Constitution of Puerto Rico (1952).
This fourth and last government of Luis Muñoz Marín followed his third reelection. In many ways it was a continuation of the previous government, with one change in positions, the Secretary of Labor, and the same amount of supermajoritarian control of the Senate of Puerto Rico and House of Representatives of Puerto Rico.
The government of Alejandro García Padilla was formed in the weeks following the 2012 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election and was sworn in initially in January 2013, with some confirmations coming in later. It featured a pro-Independence secretary, a non-partisan Secretary of Governance, as well as the continuation of the previous PNP administrations' Commissioner of Safety and Public Protection.
