The Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico —or Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico (PPD) in Spanish— is a political party that stands for Puerto Rico to be a free associated state of the United States, which is also known as a commonwealth status. The PPD is currently the party in power in Puerto Rico, with Aníbal Acevedo Vilá as governor, having won the 2004 elections.

Those who follow the PPD ideology are called populares (or populars in English).

Political ideals

The PPD's political ideals call for a Puerto Rico that is autonomous in some areas, and dependent on the United States in others. For example, local law and the taxation are managed locally 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 American 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, its different language (Spanish), and its separate history.

History

Foundation

The PPD was founded in 1938 by Luis Muñoz Marín.

1940s

In 1949, under the leadership of Luis Muñoz Marín, the PPD won the first democratically organized elections in Puerto Rico.

1950s

During the 1950s, Luis Muñoz Marín remained as Puerto Rican governor.

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 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, 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, 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 Santitos Negron, mayor of Cabo Rojo, left the party to become the first man not affiliated with any of the three major parties in Puerto Rico to win an electoral 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 Melo Munoz, 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 the political life, at least for the time being, because of his son's health problems. Anibal Acevedo Vila then emerged as candidate for Governor 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

PPD logo: "Bread, Land, Freedom".

The PPD's 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.

Important party leaders

• Felisa Rincon
• Hector Luis Acevedo
• Luis Muñoz Marín
• Miguel Hernandez Agosto
• Rafael Hernández Colón
• Roberto Sánchez Vilella
• Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
• Sila Maria Calderon

External links

• ppdpr.net (http://www.ppdpr.net) - official site.