Luis Porrata-Doría
| Luis Porrata-Doría | |
|---|---|
| 103rd Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico | |
|
In office 11 November 1898 – 12 September 1899 | |
| Preceded by | José Lloréns Echevarría |
| Succeeded by | Albert L. Myer |
| Personal details | |
| Spouse(s) | Ana Gutierre de Pando |
| Children | Francisco Porrata-Doria |
| Profession | politician |
Luis Porrata-Doría (c. 1845 – c. 1925) was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico from 11 November 1898 to 12 September 1899.[1][2] He is best remembered for his forced resignation as mayor following his municipal government’s poor response to the catastrophic Category 5 San Ciriaco hurricane that occurred during his administration.[3] He was the father of Ponce architect Francisco Porrata-Doria. He was named mayor of Ponce by the American military governor of Puerto Rico at the time, Major General Guy Vernon Henry, after Henry removed Lloréns Echevarría as mayor of Ponce on 12 November 1898.[4]
Circumstances leading to Porrata-Doria’s resignation
A devastating hurricane, called San Ciriaco, had hit the southern coast of Puerto Rico on 8 August 1899. A year earlier the United States had invaded the island and installed a military central government based in San Juan. General Nelson A. Miles had been installed by the President of the United States as the first American military governor of the Island, and Porrata-Doría had been elected mayor by the people of Ponce as was the electoral practice for many decades under the old Spanish system.[5]
San Ciriaco, however, proved to be the test of the mayorship of Porrata-Doría. As a result of the impact of the hurricane, a number of demonstrations took place around the island to denounce the poor response of various municipal governments to the disaster. “The most serious demonstration of tension took place in Ponce, where damage and mortality had been extensive, especially for the poor. A large crowd of several hundred indigent residents gathered to denounce Mayor Porrata Doria for not giving the population adequate warning or taking appropriate measures. A detachment of the U.S. Fifth Cavalry broke up the demonstrations, but the mayor was eventually forced to resign.”[6]
At this point the military governor, General Miles, appointed as interim mayor of Ponce the U.S. military commanding officer for Ponce, Major Albert L. Myer. In 1900, Major Myer was replaced by a popularly elected civil mayor, Pedro Juan Rosaly.[7]
References
- ↑ Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla y La Campana de la Almudaina. Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Page 398.
- ↑ Ponce. Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Archived 2012-07-07 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899–1901. By Stuart B. Schwartz. Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol 72, No. 3. (1992) Pages 316–317. Duke University Press.
- ↑ Silencing race : Disentangling blackness, colonialism, and national identities in Puerto Rico. Ileana M. Rodríguez-Silva. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. Page 204. Accessed 19 September 2018.
- ↑ The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899–1901. By Stuart B. Schwartz. Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol 72, No. 3. (1992) Pages 316–317. Duke University Press.
- ↑ The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899–1901. By Stuart B. Schwartz. Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol 72, No. 3. (1992) Pages 316–317. Duke University Press.
- ↑ The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899–1901. By Stuart B. Schwartz. Hispanic American Historical Review. Vol 72, No. 3. (1992) Pages 316–317. Duke University Press.
See also
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by José Lloréns Echevarría |
Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico 11 November 1898 – 12 September 1899 |
Succeeded by Albert L. Myer |