Editing Rafael Hernández Colón (section)

==Political career==
Hernández Colón affiliated himself with the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (''Partido Popular Democrático'', PPD). He served as Associate Commissioner of Public Service under the governorship of [[Roberto Sánchez Vilella]]. In 1965 he was named Secretary of the Department of Justice.

===President of the Senate===
Hernández Colón was elected to the [[Senate of Puerto Rico]] in the 1968 elections, in which his party retained control of the Senate but lost the governorship and House of Representatives. As President of the Senate, Hernández Colón became the Popular Democratic Party's president and main opposition leader. As a Senator, he proposed a [[Puerto Rican suffrage referendum, 1970|constitutional amendment to lower the minimum voting age to 18]], which passed in 1970. He also spearheaded efforts to persuade Congress to stop bombing practices on the island of [[Culebra, Puerto Rico|Culebra]]. On the issue of political status, he opposed Governor Ferré's creation of an Ad Hoc Committee for the Presidential Vote, alleging that it was a misleading effort to enhance the island's current Commonwealth status in accordance with the results of the [[Puerto Rico status referendums|1967 status plebiscite]]. In [[Puerto Rico elections|1972]], he successfully ran for [[Governor of Puerto Rico]], defeating the incumbent by approximately 95,000 votes, or 7.3%. He remains the last PDP gubernatorial candidate to have achieved victory with over 50% of votes.

===First term (1973–1977)===
During his first term, the island was wracked by recession, induced by the [[1973 oil crisis]], which hit Puerto Rico particularly hard because of the many businesses that were directly related to petroleum processing in Puerto Rico. After enacting austerity measures and tax increases, the economy recovered by 1976.

In 1973, he appointed, alongside President [[Richard Nixon]], an Ad Hoc Committee for Puerto Rico to enhance Puerto Rico's Commonwealth status pursuant to the people's mandate in the 1967 elections. The Committee rendered a report and proposal for a Compact of Permanent Union Between Puerto Rico and the United States that expanded Puerto Rico's autonomy over local affairs, expanded its right to participate in international matters, created a mechanism to object to the automatic application of federal laws, and allowed for the election of a delegate to the U.S. Senate.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Hacia la meta final: El Nuevo Pacto|last=Hernández Colon|first=Rafael|publisher=Editorial Calle Sol|year=2011|isbn=9780982947302|location=San Juan|page=87}}</ref> President [[Gerald Ford]], who replaced Nixon, did not react to the report until after the 1976 elections, when he proposed statehood for the island. According to Hernández Colón, his delayed response was due to political pressure by island Republicans, who supported Ford in his primary against [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name=":0" /> Nevertheless, the Compact was approved by the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs.<ref name=":0" />

In 1974, [[Time Magazine|''Time'' magazine]] recognized Rafael Hernández Colón as one of the world's young leaders.

Hernández Colón, Treasury Secretary [[Salvador Casellas]], and Resident Commissioner [[Jaime Benítez]] successfully lobbied Congress for Section 936, which created a tax incentive for U.S. corporations that established in Puerto Rico. The incentive remained active until 1996, when Congress enacted a phase-out which ended in 2006. Its elimination is often credited as one of the main causes for Puerto Rico's current fiscal and economic crisis.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/26/heres-how-an-obscure-tax-change-sank-puerto-ricos-economy.html|title=Here's how an obscure tax change sank Puerto Rico's economy|last=Schoen|first=John W.|date=2017-09-26|work=CNBC|access-date=2018-06-05}}</ref>

Hernández Colón also signed Law No. 80 of 1976, which required just cause for terminating employment. In 2018, Law 80 became a hotly debated issue when the governor proposed its elimination.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/firmerosselloenladerogaciondelaley80-2424109/|title=Firme Rosselló en la derogación de la Ley 80|date=2018-05-24|work=El Nuevo Dia|access-date=2018-06-05|language=es-pr}}</ref>

Hernández Colón lost the 1976 race for Governor to then [[Mayor]] of [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]], [[Carlos Romero Barceló]], by 3%.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=skwNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Um0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4|title=Romero Takes Governor Oath In Puerto Rico|date=January 3, 1977|work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]|access-date=September 3, 2010|agency=Associated Press|page=4}}</ref> He then lost again to Romero Barceló in 1980, in this second matchup by a slim margin of approximately 3,000 votes, or 0.2%.

===Second and third terms (1985–1993)===
Hernández Colón ran again against Romero Barceló in the November 1984 elections and was victorious by about 54,000 votes (48 to 45% respectively).   He won re-election in the 1988 election, besting his main rival [[Baltasar Corrada del Río]] by 49 to 46%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://electionspuertorico.org/cgi-bin/events.cgi|title=Elections in Puerto Rico: Results Lookup|website=electionspuertorico.org}}</ref>

As part of his 1984 electoral campaign, Hernández Colón released a musical album with Puerto Rican country music titled ''Ahora Es Que Vamos'' ("Here We Go Now").<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAFAEL-HERNANDEZ-COLON-EN-EL-84-PARTIDO-POPULAR-DEMOCRATICO-LP-MINT-SEALED-/222056159697?hash=item33b39419d1:g:dPMAAOSwoBtW6eSM |title=Rafael Hernandez Colon en el 84 / Partido Popular Democratico / Lp / Mint Sealed |access-date=June 10, 2016 |archive-date=August 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822201501/http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAFAEL-HERNANDEZ-COLON-EN-EL-84-PARTIDO-POPULAR-DEMOCRATICO-LP-MINT-SEALED-/222056159697?hash=item33b39419d1:g:dPMAAOSwoBtW6eSM |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1991, Hernández Colón signed a law stating that the only official language of Puerto Rico should be Spanish. The immediate effect was that English was no longer the second official language. While many applauded the governor's decision, on the other hand, supporters of the Commonwealth and the parties in favor of the American federal state interpreted this law as a threat to their ideologies.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/04/06/puerto-rico-makes-spanish-official-language/50b6c2a9-563e-4f8b-a00e-1b65b80a0a6e/|title=PUERTO RICO MAKES SPANISH OFFICIAL LANGUAGE|last=|first=|date=2024-01-25|work=Washington Post|access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref> In 1993, his successor [[Pedro Rosselló]] rescinded the law and reinstated English as the official language, alongside Spanish.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/25/us/ingles-no-puerto-ricans-shout-as-language-bill-nears-approval.html|title='Ingles, No!' Puerto Ricans Shout As Language Bill Nears Approval|last=|first=|date=1993-01-25|work=The New York Times|access-date=2024-10-09}}</ref>

During this time Puerto Rico experienced an economic boom with GDP growth at 5% during the years 1987–1989 the highest since Operation Bootstrap and the Economic Boom in the United States. Unemployment dropped drastically in his term from an all-time high 25% in 1983 to 12.0% in 1990.
He lost popularity with the controversial Pabellón de Sevilla that was an attempt of a representation of Puerto Rico at the [[Seville Expo '92|Universal Exposition of Seville]] in 1992.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}
In January 1992 Hernández announced that he would not seek re-election. On January 11, he resigned as President of the [[Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico|Popular Democratic Party]], a post he had held for 23 years. Senator [[Victoria Muñoz Mendoza]] succeeded him as president of the party and later became a gubernatorial candidate herself.