POPULAR DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF PUERTO RICO

The 'Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico' (Spanish: ''Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico'', 'PPD') is a political party that supports the continuation of Puerto Rico's current status as a "free associated state" of the United States, which is also known as a commonwealth. The governor of Puerto Rico, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, is from the PPD, but the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico holds both the Puerto Rican House of Representatives and Senate.
Those who follow the PPD ideology are called ''populares''.

Contents

Political ideals

History

Foundation

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Party logo and song

Criticism

Disfranchisement due to Residence in Puerto Rico

Important party leaders

See also

Ideology

Politics

External links

Political ideals

The PPD's political ideals call for a Puerto Rico that is in some areas, and dependent on the United States in others. For example, local law and the taxation are managed locally by a tripartite system of state government. Custom duties and foreign treaties remain in the hands of the federal government. In addition, Puerto Rican law remains under the purview of Congress, and must concord with the United States Constitution.
The PPD's outlook has trended towards gaining further autonomy and local control over the external relationships of the island. In the eyes of the PPD, Puerto Rico should be viewed more as a country and not a state of the American union. For example, Puerto Rico has its own Olympic Games representation, a different majority language (Spanish), and unique culture.

History

Foundation

Dissidents expelled from the Liberal Party (then led by Antonio R. Barcelo), founded the PPD in 1937-1938. The dissident faction, initially calling themselves the ''Partido Liberal, Neto, Auténtico y Completo'' ("Clear, Authentic and Complete Liberal Party"), was led by Luis Muñoz Marín. In 1937, the debate centered around the more moderate demands of autonomy leading to gradual independence by the Liberal Party faction led by Barcelo, and the more radical demands of immediate independence and social reform by Muñoz and his followers.
Muñoz legally incorporated the PDP in 1938. He intended to call the party ''Partido Social Democrático'', but he was strongly advised not to use the word "social" in the name, as to not alienate Puerto Ricans who feared socialism as a political or economic philosophy. Appealing to the masses (and some say taking a hint from the name of Puerto Rico's most solid institution at the time, the Banco Popular de Puerto Rico), he substituted "Popular" for "Social". He inscribed the party in two towns, San Lorenzo and Culebra. Reportedly the party's first inscribed voter was a San Lorenzo resident which was 120 years old at the time.

1940s

The highest political office a Puerto Rican could be elected to in 1940 was that of president of the local Senate. The governor of Puerto Rico was named directly by the president of the United States (some say as a personal favor to the acting president's political supporters), and as such, no locals were named to the post until 1946. In the 1940 election the PDP finished in a dead heat with the Liberal Party; Muñoz then brokered an alliance with minor Puerto Rican factions as to secure his position as Senate president. Later elections in 1944 and 1948 resulted in increasing victory margins for the PDP; at a time almost all legislative posts and mayoral races in Puerto Rico were won by PDP candidates.
Once Jesus T. Piñero stepped down as the first Puerto Rican named governor, the governor's office became an elected position. In 1949, under the leadership of Luis Muñoz Marín, the PPD won the first gubernatorial elections in Puerto Rico, and Muñoz became first elected governor of the island. He then initiated the longest continuous rule by a governor in Puerto Rican history (four 4-year terms, for a total of 16 years), only surpassed by one of the former governors under Spanish rule, Miguel de la Torre.

1950s

During the 1950s, Luis Muñoz Marín remained as Puerto Rican governor.In 1952 he assumed the responsibility of pushing forward P.R.'s constitution's creation. On July 25, 1952 the constitution was established.

1960s

In 1964, PPD candidate Roberto Sánchez Vilella had become the second governor to be democratically elected in Puerto Rico. The party remained in power until 1968, when Luis A. Ferré, of the then newly found ''New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico'' (PNP), won the elections.

1970s

In 1972, with Rafael Hernández Colón as their new leader, the PPD returned to power. However, this was a briefly lived victory for the party, because in 1976, PNP candidate Carlos Romero Barcelo defeated Colón.

1980s

In 1980, the PPD threatened once again, with Hernández Colón as candidate, to come back to power, losing by only 3,000 votes in the elections that year. This is the closest election for Governor to date.
In 1984, Hernández Colón once again became governor. His second term was marked by his fight to keep the Law 936 running. The PPD helped establishing the law, which dictates that American companies can be allowed to operate in Puerto Rico with tax cuts.
In 1988, Hernández Colón was re-elected. That same year Hector Luis Acevedo, the PPD's candidate for mayor in San Juan, won the election for that position by only forty-nine votes. It was also the year that Santos Ortiz, a.k.a "El Negro", mayor of Cabo Rojo, left the party. "El Negro" went on to become the first person not affiliated with any of the three major parties in Puerto Rico to win an elective position in the country when he retained his seat as mayor as an independent candidate.

1990s

In 1992, after Colón decided not to run for governor again, the PPD elected Victoria Muñoz Mendoza, daughter of Luis Muñoz Marín, to run for governor. She became the first woman in Puerto Rican history to run for governor, but she lost the election to Pedro Rosselló. In 1996, Hector Luis Acevedo ran for governor, but once again, the PPD candidate lost to Roselló.

2000s

In 2000, Sila Maria Calderon regained the governor's seat for the PPD, beating PNP candidate Carlos Ignacio Pesquera, and Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) candidate Ruben Berrios.
Calderon announced that she would not be running for governor in 2004. Her proposed heir as PPD leader was Jose Alfredo Hernandez Mayoral, son of Rafael Hernández Colón, but he retired from political life, at least for the time being,because of his son's health problems. Anibal Acevedo Vila then emerged as candidate for Governor and was victorious in the elections of 2004 by a margin of 3,556 votes. He became the fifth Governor from Popular Democratic Party on January 2nd, 2005.

Party logo and song

The PDP uses as a logo the silhouette of a rural farm worker wearing a straw hat, with the words ''"pan, tierra, libertad"'' (''bread, land, freedom'' in English) circling the man. The party logo was designed by Antonio Colorado (The Elder), one of Muñoz's staff members at the PDP and an eventual cabinet member when Muñoz became governor. Since "colorado" is Spanish slang for the color red, Colorado laid a personal touch to the logo by painting it red. The party's strong association to the color red stands to this day.
The PDP is also unique in Puerto Rican politics in its use of an anthem song. "''Jalda Arriba''" was written by Johnny Rodriguez, a famous Puerto Rican singer, composer and club owner who was also the elder brother of one of Puerto Rico's most famous international singers, Tito Rodriguez. Johnny wrote it in 1942, and gave its score to the PDP as a gift in deep admiration of the party's philosophy. He later bitterly regretted the fact that the PDP never paid him a cent in royalties.
The melody of the song strongly resembles that of a later composition, the theme song for the Anthony Quinn movie ''"The Secret of Santa Vittoria"'', which is a tarantella. The song is such a strong identifier of the party that even a version featuring the Puerto Rico Philarmonic Orchestra exists.

Criticism

For its long run since its foundation, the party has come under criticism from both it's opposing parties and the neutral people of the island. In the most part, the criticism stems from the dependence the party places on the United States. Due to this, the party members have been called everything from weak to "pets on a leash".

Disfranchisement due to Residence in Puerto Rico

U.S. Citizens residing in Puerto Rico are not counted in the U.S. Census and lose their right to vote in any U.S. legislative and executive election at the national level that (despite the fact that the U.S. Government Executive and Legislative Branches hold ultimate sovereignty over all U.S. Citizens and the territory of Puerto Rico. Both the ''Puerto Rican Independence Party'' and the ''New Progressive Party'' outright reject the status quo that permits disfranchisement (from their distinct respective positions on the ideal enfranchised status for the island of Puerto Rico). The remaining political organization, the PPD, is less active in its opposition of this case of disfranchisement but has officially stated that it favors fixing the remaining "deficits of democracy" that the Clinton Administration and Bush Administration have publicly recognized in writing through the published ''President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status'' and the public hearings held by the U.S. House of Representatives on the ''Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007''.

Important party leaders

★ Hector Luis Acevedo

★ Aníbal Acevedo Vilá

★ Miguel Hernández Agosto

★ Sila Maria Calderón

★ Rafael Hernández Colón

★ Luis Muñoz Marín

★ Victoria Muñoz Mendoza

★ Roberto Prats

★ Felisa Rincón de Gautier

★ Roberto Sánchez Vilella

See also

Ideology

★ Liberalism

★ Liberalism worldwide

★ Liberal democracy

★ Contributions to liberal theory

Politics

★ List of political parties in Puerto Rico

★ Politics of Puerto Rico

External links

★ Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico