Muñoz Rivera, Luis (1859–1916)

Luis Muñoz Rivera (b. 17 July 1859; d. 15 November 1916), Puerto Rican journalist, poet, and political leader. Born in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, Muñoz Rivera completed his primary schooling in local schools and began his career in politics in 1887. He rose to prominence as a leader of the Autonomist Party. In 1890 he founded the newspaper La Democracia, which became the voice of the autonomist movement. He successfully negotiated a pact with the Spanish Liberal Fusionist Party in 1896 that ultimately resulted in the granting of autonomy to Puerto Rico. Muñoz Rivera and the autonomists won the first elections, but U.S. occupation in 1898 prevented the new government from assuming office. Renewing his struggle to procure political rights for Puerto Rico, Muñoz Rivera founded the Federalist Party in 1898 and became Puerto Rico's resident commissioner in Washington (1910–1916). He was instrumental in formulating the Jones Act (signed 4 March 1917), which increased Puerto Rico's powers of self-government, but he did not live to see its passage.

See alsoPuerto Rico, Political Parties: Overview .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harold J. Lidin, History of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, vol. 1 (1981).

Arturo Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History (1983), pp. 118-199.

Additional Bibliography

Maldonado, A. W. Luis Muñoz Marín: Puerto Rico's Democratic Revolution. San Juan: Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2006.

                                   Sara Fleming