Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE MUÑOZ CLAN
While America spawned the legendary Roosevelt dynasty, Puerto Rico produced its
very own influential establishment family, the iconic Muñoz clan, two generations of
charismatic politicians who changed the course of the island's postcolonial history
and set the commonwealth on the road to modernity.
Born in the mountain town of Barranquitas in 1859, Luis Muñoz Rivera was the
son of a former town mayor and the grandson of an enterprising Spanish sea captain.
With politics planted firmly in his DNA, he formed the Autonomist Party in 1887, an
organization that called for Puerto Rican autonomy within the confines of the Span-
ish colonial system. Three years later he upped the ante further by founding a news-
paper,
La Democracia,
to act as a journalistic mouthpiece for his cause.
With the Spanish driven out by a US military government in 1898, Muñoz Rivera
switched his focus to the United States. Initially an advocate of outright independen-
ce, he dropped his claims in the early 1900s to ensure the replacement of the one-
sided Foraker Act by the 1917 Jones Act and a more equitable relationship with the
United States. Although Muñoz Rivera died a year before its implementation, he was
considered instrumental in drafting the new laws (that granted US citizenship to
Puerto Rican nationals) and is still revered as one of Puerto Rico's most important
homegrown personalities. His mausoleum in Barranquitas remains an important and
oft-visited historical monument.
A chip off his father's block, Rivera's son, Luis Muñoz Marín, was a prodigious
poet and journalist who studied law in the United States. Returning to Puerto Rico in
1916, the younger Muñoz joined the socialist party and became a leading advocate
for Puerto Rican independence. But, just like his father before him, Luis retracted on
his initial promises during a spell as President of the Puerto Rican Senate in the
mid-1940s in order to enlist US economic backing for an ambitious industrialization
campaign codenamed 'Operation Bootstrap.'
In 1949 Muñoz Marín became Puerto Rico's first democratically elected governor,
a position he held for an unprecedented four terms (until 1965). During his time in
office he orchestrated Puerto Rico's economic 'miracle,' transforming the island
from a poverty- stricken agrarian society into a thriving economic powerhouse based
on tourism, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. Often touted as the 'father of mod-
ern Puerto Rico,' Muñoz commanded huge popularity at home for his efforts in tack-
ling poverty while, at the same time, extracting greater freedoms from the United
States. Other more nationalistic voices depict him as a turncoat who was coerced out
of his independence ideals by a belligerent US military establishment.
