Anibal Acevedo Vila
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá (born in 1962) is a politician from Puerto Rico affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party. He has held many political positions, including being member of the[House of Representatives of Puerto Rico and minority leader of the House from 1997 to 2001. On the elections of 2000 he was elected as Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico.
Education
Acevedo received his Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico and later his Master's Degree in Law from Harvard University. In his early twenties, he was already a close member of Rafael Hernández Colón's administration.
Political career
Acevedo Vilá is a fervent believer of the current political status of Puerto Rico. He has enjoyed a close relationship with the current Governor Sila M. Calderón and both have worked for the resolve of the political status of the island.
In 1992 he was elected to Puerto Rico's House of Representatives. He developed his leadership skills during this period and was able to win reelection in 1996. The next year was very important in Acevedo's political career; he was chosen to be Minority Leader in the House of Representatives and later he was chosen President of the Popular Democratic Party(Partido Popular Democrático in Spanish) (PPD).
In 1998 Acevedo vehemently attacked the Young Proyect. This proyect seeked to resolve the political status of Puerto Rico. However, the proyect did not include the current political status of the island, the Commonwealth, as one of the options. Acevedo argued against this and was able to get a triumph when the United States' House of Representatives vetoed the proyect.
Although the proyect had failed, Puerto Rico's Governor Pedro Rosselló decided to have a Plebiscite to try to resolve the status problem. The plebiscite would give puertoricans four options; Commonwealth, Associated Republic, Statehood, and Independence. A fifth option was NONE OF THE ABOVE.
Acevedo and his party believed that the definition for the Commonwealth that was included in the plebsicite was wrong, therefore, they decided to lead a campaign for people to vote for NONE OF THE ABOVE. Acevedo's greatest victory was in December 1998, when the NONE OF THE ABOVE column triumphed over the other options.
In the elections of 2000, Acevedo ran for Resident Commissioner of the island after defeating José Hernández Mayoral in the Party Primary. Acevedo then went to defeat incumbent Carlos Romero Barceló. On the same ticket, Sila M. Calderón of the PPD was elected the 7th Democratically Elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
In the summer of 2003, Calderón announced she would not be running for reelection on 2004. After a brief power struggle inside the PPD, Acevedo Vilá was announced has the 8th candidate in the history of his party to seek the Governorship of Puerto Rico. On September 23, 2004, at the end of the first televised debate between the candidates of the 2004 elections, Acevedo and former Governor Pedro Rosselló had a strong words confrontation that was seen by the audience.
Acevedo is currently active on the campaign trail for the upcoming elections of November 2004.
