Luis Muñoz RIVERA, Congress, PR (1859-1916)

RIVERA, Luis Muñoz, a Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico; born in Barranquitas, P.R., July 17, 1859; attended the common schools; engaged in commerce and general business; founded La Democracia, a daily newspaper, in Ponce, P.R., in 1889; was sent to Madrid in 1896 as a special representative to confer with the Liberal Party of Spain on establishing home rule in Puerto Rico; one of the founders of the Liberal Party in Puerto Rico in 1897; appointed secretary of state under the home-rule government and president of the cabinet in 1897; created and organized the insular police; resigned in 1898, when American sovereignty was declared, but his resignation not being accepted, he continued to serve until 1899; representative of his party to Washington, D.C., regarding the establishment of free-trade relations between the United States and Puerto Rico; organized the Federal Party in 1900 and on its dissolution in 1902 organized the Unionist Party; founded the Porto Rico Journal in 1900; published the Porto Rico Herald in New York City in 1901; served in the Puerto Rico House of Delegates 1906-1910; presided over a special commission of the house of delegates which was sent to Washington, D.C., in 1909; elected as a Unionist a Resident Commissioner to the United States in 1910; reelected in 1912 and 1914 and served from March 4, 1911, until his death in San Juan, P.R., November 15, 1916; interment in San Antonio de Padua’s Cemetery, Barranquitas, P.R.

Reynolds, Mack. Puerto Rican Patriot; The Life of Luis Muñoz Rivera . New York: Crowell-Collier Press, 1969.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present