HERNNDEZ COLN, RAFAEL

born Oct. 24, 1936, Ponce, P.R. governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977. Hernndez Coln was a graduate of Johns Hopkins University (1956) and of the University of Puerto Rico Law School. In his school days he wrote an undergraduate thesis on the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, a topic that he continued to develop throughout his career. He was a protg of Luis Muoz Marn and followed the Popular Democratic party's backing of commonwealth status, asserting that either statehood or independence would result in the island's economic and political ruin. As governor, Hernndez wanted to make Puerto Rico less dependent economically on the United States; he sought a greater Puerto Rican role in world trade, immigration control, communications, and transport while favouring the commonwealth's retention of American citizenship, common defense arrangements, and a common economic market. In 1975 he embarked upon a massive housing program, increasing the commonwealth's public works budget by 20 percent to $600,000,000. He vigorously opposed Cuban intervention in the island's affairs, alleging that there were ties between the Fidel Castro regime and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Immediately before the inauguration of his successor, Carlos Romero Barcel, he reacted strongly to U.S. Pres. Gerald R. Ford's call for the admission of Puerto Rico to the Union as the 51st state. His assertion that statehood contradicted the United States commitment to Puerto Rican self-determination was endorsed by U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter.