Manuel Egozcue Cintrón

Manuel Egozcue Cintrón

Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico
In office
1900
Preceded by R.M. Blanchford
Succeeded by José Ma. Marxuach
In office
1901–1903
Preceded by José Ma. Marxuach
Succeeded by Jose R. Latimer
Personal details
Born 1855
Bilbao, Spain
Died 1906
San Juan de Puerto Rico
Political party Unconditional Spanish Party, Puerto Rican Republican Party
Profession Businessman, Politician

Manuel Egozcue y Cintrón was born in Bilbao, Spain in 1855. After completing university he emigrated to Puerto Rico, then an overseas province of Spain, to pursue commercial projects; quickly becoming prominent in island business circles.

He became an active member of the Partido Incondicional Español (the loyalist Spanish Unconditional Party) and held important public offices under the Spanish government, including the vice presidency of the Diputación Provincial (Provincial Legislature). In 1896 he was honored by the government with the Orden del Mérito Naval for services rendered to Spain's navy.

After the American occupation he joined the newly formed Republican Party of Puerto Rico (whose main goal was obtaining statehood status for the Island) and was assigned a place on its board of directors, working closely with party founder José Celso Barbosa.

During the municipal elections of 1900, the first to be held since the beginning of the American occupation, the Republican Party achieved an overwhelming victory; this resulted in Egozcue Cintrón becoming Alcalde of San Juan, a position he held until elected a member of the First House of Delegates for the 1901-1902 term. Following the House's seasonal adjournment he was reappointed to fill the unexpired term of Alcalde.

In 1904 he was again elected mayor, but this last term would be truncated when territorial governor William Henry Hunt ordered his removal from office following a corruption scandal that tainted much of city government. Although he was ultimately acquitted of all charges the ordeal nevertheless left him much affected, requiring his internment in a psychiatric hospital. Mayor Manuel Egozcue Cintrón died shortly after in 1906.

During Egozcue Cintrón's various terms as mayor an urban police corps was created to patrol the city. Also, $600,000 worth of municipal bonds were issued, resulting in full payment of city debt and the completion of an aqueduct.

The accompanying portrait of mayor Egozcue Cintrón is from a contemporaneous ink drawing by Puerto Rican political caricaturist Mario Brau de Zuzuárregui.

References

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