Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, serving from 1969 to 1973. He was the founding father of the New Progressive Party, which advocates for Puerto Rico to become a state of the United States of America. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Background
Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was born in the southern city of Ponce, Puerto Rico on February 17, 1904. Ferré's grandfather was a French engineer who was involved in the construction of the Panama Canal before settling in Cuba. Ferre's father, Antonio Ferré, was born in Cuba and grew up there. As a young man he immigrated to Puerto Rico, where he founded the company Puerto Rico Iron Works, in Barrio Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico Ferré met and married Maria Aguayo Casals, a cousin of Catalan cellist Pablo Casals, whose mother was Puerto Rican. Antonio and Maria had four sons, Luis, José, Carlos and Hermán Ferré, and two daughters, Rosario and Catholic nun Isolina Ferré.
Education
Ferré studied Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtaining his bachelor's degree in 1924 and master's degree in 1925, and music at the New England Conservatory of Music. During this time while living in Boston, Ferré developed an admiration for the "American way of democracy".
Career
On his return to Puerto Rico in 1925 he worked in his father's iron works business and was instrumental in the design and development of the Puerto Rico Cement Company. This company eventually became the largest producer and distributor of cement in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean and played a key role in Puerto Rican housing developments during the 1960s.
A man with a profound admiration for the United States, Ferré has been involved in local politics for most of his adult life. His lifelong goal has been for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. As the voice of the Republican Party, he and his brother-in-law, Miguel Angel Garcia Mendez, represented the pro-statehood agenda in Puerto Rico between the 1930s and 1950s. From 1937 to 1953 Ferré was a pro-statehood member of the House of Delegates. He was also one of the signing members of the Puerto Rico Constitutional Convention, which wrote the island's constitution after it became a commonwealth in 1952.
After years of dissatisfaction with both the Republican Party and the state of local politics, Ferré decided to organize the New Progressive Party in 1967. Campaigning under the slogan of "Esto tiene que cambiar" (This has to change), he was elected governor in November 1968. To this day, the party advocates state-hood for Puerto Rico and assumes a pro-business and pro-private sector approach in the design of its public policies. During his tenure as governor, he undertook a series of major governmental reforms and tried to improve the overall economic and administrative infrastructure of the island. For instance, he increased the salaries of government employees, gave them Christmas bonuses, and undertook major improvements in the construction of roads, schools, and government facilities. Despite his progressive approach to government, he was defeated in the general elections of 1972 by Rafael Hernández Colón.
Although he lost the governorship, Ferré has remained active in Puerto Rican political affairs and has served his New Progressive Party dutifully. He was president of the senate from 1977 to 1981 and has been actively involved in the U.S. Republican Party for instance, he was the head of the Puerto Rico delegation to the National Republican Party Convention in the year 2000.
Politics
Ferré's detractors believe that he has been willing to shortchange Puerto Rican values, customs, and culture in order to annex the island to the United States. Some have also accused him of using his political positions to increase his wealth and further the economic well being of the Ferré family businesses.