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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 Paduas Cemetery, Barranquitas,
P.R.
BibliographyReynolds, Mack. Puerto Rican Patriot; The
Life of Luis Muñoz Rivera. New York: Crowell-Collier Press, 1969.
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