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Home/ New College Modern Latin American History/ 4/12/10 A little bit of information on the current "leader" of Puerto Rico
Rachel Barnard

4/12/10 A little bit of information on the current "leader" of Puerto Rico - 2 views

started by Rachel Barnard on 13 Apr 10
  • Rachel Barnard
     
    As you know, Puerto Rico is not an independent nation but a Commonwealth of the United States. This means that the chief of state would be the current president of the United States but that the head of government would be elected by the Puerto Rican people every four years (since 1948) and would have the power to veto any number of projects that the Puerto Rican Legislature wishes to pass, to appoint the members of his cabinet, who in turn must be ratified by the Legislature, and also to appoint Justices to the Supreme Court and all the lower courts of the island.

    The current head of government of Puerto Rico is Luis Fortuño, elected in 2008 by a lead of 11 percentage points. He is the first republican governor since 1969 and faced a whopping 3.2 billion-budget deficit upon stepping in as governor. Not one to back down, he did not go whining and pleading to Washington for help but took matters into his own hands and immediately went into action. First he froze government hiring and set an example by cutting pay for himself as well as all the agency heads. He has proposed a bill to cut the number of seats in the Puerto Rican Legislature by 30% as well as pushing a $500 million local economic stimulus plan.

    Fortuño is president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico that advocates for Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state of the US. He is the ninth governor of the island and has served in various leadership roles before becoming governor of Puerto Rico. Born in the capital, Fortuño studied at Georgetown University as well as the University of Virginia School of Law. He was named Man of the Year in 1996 by Caribbean Business and Public Servant of the Year in both 1994 and 1995.

    http://w3.newsmax.com/a/mar10/fortuno/

    http://www.newsmax.com/Ruddy/fortuno-puerto-rico-taxes/2010/04/07/id/355060

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Fortuño

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