Carlos Pesquera
Carlos Ignacio Pesquera Morales Ph.D. (born 1956) is a Puerto Rican civil engineer and former politician. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico in the elections of 2000. He is married to Irasema Rivera, an agronomist, and has one son and one daughter. He currently resides in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
Education
Carlos Pesquera graduated from High School while attending Nuestra Señora de Belen. Dr. Pesquera attended the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, where he graduated with high honors as an engineer. Later, Pesquera continued his graduate studies at Cornell University, where he obtained an M.A. and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering. Afterwards, he taught civil engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.
Political career
Pesquera was the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works of Puerto Rico under Pedro Rosselló's first and second terms as Governor (1993-1999). As Secretary of Transportation, he is credited as the driving force behind the $2 billion Tren Urbano (Urban Train), the Superaqueduct that has resolved metropolitan San Juan's water rationing problems, numerous road construction projects and the construction of the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in San Juan. He ran for Governor of Puerto Rico as a candidate of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico in the 2000 elections but was defeated by Sila María Calderón of the Popular Democratic Party. The results of that election showed: Sila Calderón (PDP) with 978,860 votes (48.6%); Carlos Pesquera (NPP) 919,194 votes (45.7%); Ruben Berrios (PIP) 104,705 (5.2%), while other candidates had about 2700 votes (under 0.5%). Afterwards, he reorganized his followers and remained the head of the NPP until the year 2003. That same year Pedro Rosselló returned from retirement and Pesquera ran for his party's candidacy for Governor but was soundly defeated in a primary election by Rosselló.
Pesquera then retired from public life and is currently teaching at several Puerto Rican universities. On January 2007, Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá nominated him to be part of the Board of Regents of the University of Puerto Rico.