Miguel Hernández Agosto

The Honorable Miguel Hernández Agosto
9th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico
In office January 2, 1981 – December 31, 1992
Preceded by	Luis A. Ferré
Succeeded by	Roberto Rexach Benítez
President pro tempore of the Senate of Puerto Rico
In office 1973–1976
Preceded by	Juan Cancel Ríos
Succeeded by	Manuel Ramos Barroso
Member of the Senate of Puerto Rico
In office 1970–1997
Personal details
Born	(1927-04-05) April 5, 1927 Las Piedras, Puerto Rico
Political party	Popular Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	María Casanova
Alma mater	University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (B.A.) Michigan State (M.S.) Interamerican University of Puerto Rico University of Michigan
Profession	Politician, Attorney
Religion	Roman Catholic

Miguel Hernández Agosto (born April 5, 1927) is a Puerto Rican politician whose service in government has spanned several generations.

Finished his bachelor studies at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Then, went to Michigan where he graduated from Michigan State University with a Masters degree and from University of Michigan with a PhD. Years later, he concluded his studies with a JD from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law. He is a member of the Latino fraternity Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest inter-collegiate Greek-letter organization established for Latino Americans.

Hernández Agosto served as Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture in the 1960s under the governorships of Luis Muñoz Marín and Roberto Sánchez Vilella.

In the 1970s, he entered elective politics as a Senator at-large. In 1981 he became the Senate of Puerto Rico's ninth President, a position he held for 12 years. In 1993, after the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico's defeat in the 1992 elections, he became the Senate Minority Leader of his party until 1996.^[1]

He was President of the Popular Democratic Party from 1978 to 1981 and presided the Committee for the Fifth Centenary of the discovery of America and Puerto Rico.

A Democrat at the national level, after winning a bruising reorganization primary campaign in 1988 against former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, he became State Chair of the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico, a post he held until 1992.

Within his local party, after former Governor Rafael Hernández Colón's defeat in 1976, he became party president, a post he held until the former Governor decided to run for Governor in 1980, which incumbent Gov. Romero narrowly won.

Hernández Agosto is currently a part-time law professor at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law and practices law. In 2008, he chaired then-Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's unsuccessful reelection campaign.

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• Senate of Puerto Rico

References