Juan José Cancel Ríos (August 20, 1925 – August 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer who served as the 7th

President of the Senate of Puerto Rico The president of the Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Presidente del Senado) is the highest-ranking officer and the presiding officer of the Senate of Puerto Rico. The president has voting powers as it is elected amongst the own members of the Senate ...

from 1973 to 1976.

Biography

Juan Cancel Ríos was born on August 20, 1925, in

Barceloneta, Puerto Rico Barceloneta (, ) is a town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the north region, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, north of Florida (city and municipality in Puerto Rico), east of Arecibo, and west of Manatí. Barceloneta is spread over 3 ba ...

. His parents were Juan Cancel Matos and Salustiana Ríos. Cancel Ríos studied his elementary at Rafael Balseiro Maceira Elementary School in Barceloneta, graduating in 1940. He then went to José Severo Quiñonez High School in Manatí, graduating in 1944. He then went to study at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

, but after his first year, enrolled with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

to serve during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1947, he was honorably discharged by the Army and he returned to the University, graduating in 1953 with two degrees: Social Science and Law at the

University of Puerto Rico School of Law The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System. It ...

. After passing the

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

, he became an attorney. Cancel showed interest in politics since his youth. From 1957 to 1960, he presided the Municipal Assembly of Barceloneta. In 1960, he was elected as a member of the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Sen ...

for the District of Manatí-Barceloneta. He served in that position from 1961 to 1964. In 1964, Cancel was elected to the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control t ...

for the District of Arecibo. He was reelected in 1968 and 1972. In 1973, his fellow senators chose him as President of the Senate. He did so until 1976. Cancel was also a member of the Board of the Attorney's College, the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquartere ...

of Manatí, the American Legion, and other civic organizations. After retiring from politics, Cancel presided the

Puerto Rico Baseball League Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Orient ...

. Cancel Ríos was married to Carmen Leticia Alegría Estela, and they had three children together: Carmencita, María Magdalena and

Juan Andrés Juan Andrés y Morell (15 February 1740 in Planes, Alicante12 January 1817 in Rome) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Christian humanist and literary critic of the Age of Enlightenment. He was the creator of world history and comparative literature (i ...

. Cancel Ríos died on August 26, 1992, in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

. The Barceloneta Government Center is named after him. In 2023 Juan Cancel Ríos was posthumously inducted to the Puerto Rico Veterans Hall of Fame.https://www.notiuno.com/noticias/exaltan-12-excombatientes-al-sal-n-de-la-fama-del-veterano/article_2159919c-8cc6-11ee-b299-4b434dc4ccb5.html#google_vignette

References

External links

Juan Cancel Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cancel, Juan Popular Democratic Party members of the Senate of Puerto Rico 1925 births 1992 deaths People from Barceloneta, Puerto Rico Presidents of the Senate of Puerto Rico Presidents pro tempore of the Senate of Puerto Rico United States Army soldiers University of Puerto Rico alumni 20th-century Puerto Rican politicians United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century Puerto Rican lawyers

Biography

See also

References

External links