Search Famous Puerto Ricans
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José de Diego Martinez
Jurist, poet, journalist, essayist, orator, politician, and advocate for Puerto Rico's independence, born April 16, 1866, in Aguadilla. Considered a brilliant orator, de Diego was also a major poet, but his lasting political legacy rests on his advocacy for Puerto Rican independence. He was a founder of the Autonomist Party in 1887 and co-founder, with Luis Muñoz Rivera, of the Unionist Party in 1904. His dream was to see the establishment of a confederation of Spanish-speaking islands in the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic.
He served as president of the House of Delegates from 1907 to 1917 and speaker of the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1918. He also helped establish the Colegio de Agricultura y Artes Mecánicas de Mayagüez, now the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. De Diego is remembered as an important figure in both modern Puerto Rican poetry and the island's independence movement. Works such as "A Laura" and "Póstuma" established his reputation as a notable love poet. His poetry books include Pomarrosas (1904), Jovillos (1916), Cantos de Rebeldía (1916), and Cantos del Pitirre, published after his death. He died July 17, 1921, in New York and was buried in San Juan.
Luis Muñoz Rivera
Born July 17, 1859 in Barranquitas. Died November 15, 1916 in San Juan. Leader of Puerto Rico's autonomy movement and father of Luis Muñoz Marín. He founded the newspaper La Democracia, which crusaded for Puerto Rican freedom from Spanish domination, later edited by his son Luis Munoz Marin. Munoz Rivera was president of Puerto Rico's Liberal Party and a leading spokesman for autonomy. A leader in the campaign for independence from Spain, he obtained (1897) a charter, which was never put into effect, that granted some autonomy to Puerto Ricans. He founded the Federal Party in Puerto Rico in 1899. Heading the first Puerto Rican cabinet under U.S. occupation, Muñoz Rivera opposed military governorship and pleaded for greater self-government. Faced with bitter opposition in Puerto Rico, he moved to New York City and published the Puerto Rico Herald, which expounded the island's problems. As resident commissioner of Puerto Rico in Washington, D.C. (1910-16), he obtained U.S. citizenship for Puerto Ricans. He died just before passage of the Jones Bill, for which he had fought. He is the best of the Puerto Rican lyricist and political poets. His most important work was his book of poems Tropicales.
