The Department of State of Puerto Rico was created in July 1952 and is responsible of promoting the cultural, political, and economical relations between

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, other jurisdictions of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and foreign countries.

History

The Department of State of Puerto Rico was established by section 6 of Article IV of the constitution passed on July 25, 1952. The Department headquarters is located in the Old Palace of the Royal Intendency (''Antiguo Palacio de la Real Intendencia'') in

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo San Juan) is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (s ...

with regional offices in

Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, th ...

Fajardo Fajardo (, ) is a town and municipality -Fajardo Combined Statistical Area. Fajardo is the hub of much of the recreational boating in Puerto Rico and a popular launching port to Culebra, Vieques, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. It is ...

and Ponce.

Secretaries

* 1952–1964:

Roberto Sánchez Vilella Roberto Sánchez Vilella (19 February 1913 – 24 March 1997) was the governor of Puerto Rico from 1965 to 1969. Sánchez Vilella successfully ran for governor in the 1964 elections for the '' Partido Popular Democrático''. He is also the fou ...

* 1965–1966: Carlos J. Lastra * 1966–1969:

Guillermo Irizarry Guillermo Irizarry-Rubio (April 12, 1916 – November 21, 2017) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Appointed by Governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella, he served from 1966 to January 2, 1969, when he w ...

* 1969–1973:

Carlos Fernando Chardón Major General Carlos Fernando Chardón also referred to as "Fernando Chardón"Various notable members of his family were named "Carlos Chardón". He preferred to be referred to as "Fernando Chardón" to avoid confusion with the others. (Septemb ...

* 1973–1974:

Victor Pons The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French sho ...

* 1975–1977: Juan A. Albors * 1977–1979:

Reinaldo Paniagua Diez Reinaldo Paniagua Diez (July 20, 1934 – January 29, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the seventh Puerto Rico Secretary of State from January 2, 1977, to 1979, under Governor Carlos Romero Barceló and served as acting Governor ...

* 1979–1981: Pedro R. Vazquez * 1981–1985: Carlos S. Quirós * 1985–1988:

Héctor Luis Acevedo Héctor Luis Acevedo Pérez (born November 8, 1947) is a Puerto Rican politician from Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is the son of Héctor N. Acevedo and Toñita Pérez, both public servants. Acevedo has been married to Carmen Roca Sa ...

* 1988–1988:

Alfonso Lopez Char Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsul ...

* 1988–1990: Sila M. Calderon * 1990–1992: Antonio J. Colorado * 1992–1992: Salvador M. Padilla Escabi * 1993–1995: Baltasar Corrada del Rio * 1995–1999:

Norma Burgos Norma E. Burgos Andújar (born October 30, 1954) is a Puerto Rican politician. She has been a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico since 2000. She also served as Lieutenant Governor and the 16th Secretary of State under Governor Pedro Rosselló ...

* 1999–2001: Angel Morey * 2001–2003: Ferdinand Mercado * 2004–2004:

Jose Izquierdo Encarnacion José Miguel “Pepe” Izquierdo Encarnación (born October 6, 1957) served as the 19th Secretary of State of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A structural engineer by education and profession, he has served in many professional, civic and publ ...

* 2005–2005:

Marisara Pont Marchese Marisara Pont Marchese (born October 29, 1941) served as the 20th Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, as well as Acting Governor in the absence of Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá and the only one whose recess term ended when denied legislative conf ...

* 2005–2009: Fernando J. Bonilla * 2009–2013: Kenneth D. McClintock * 2013–2015:

David Bernier David Enrique "Quique" Bernier Rivera (; born January 21, 1977) is a Puerto Rican dentist and politician that has served in various roles in public service in Puerto Rico. Bernier first served as executive director of the Office of Youth A ...

* 2015–2016:

Víctor Suárez Meléndez Víctor A. Suárez Meléndez is a Puerto Rican lawyer and politician who was the 24th Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, as well as being the current executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority. Prior to his curr ...

* 2017–2019:

Luis G. Rivera Marín Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

* 2019:

Pedro Pierluisi Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia (born April 26, 1959) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer currently serving as governor of Puerto Rico. He has previously served as Secretary of Justice, Resident Commissioner, acting Secretary of State, i ...

* 2019–2020: Elmer L. Román González * 2020–2021: Raúl Márquez Hernández

References

{{Coord, 18, 27, 56, N, 66, 7, 3, W, region:US-PR_type:landmark, display=title Executive departments of the government of Puerto Rico

History

Secretaries

See also

References