Juan "Juanin" Rullán Rivera (born 1884) was a farmer and a
Puerto Rican politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who served as the
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of the city of
Mayagüez,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. Juan Rullán was born on November 19, 1884, in the Juan Alonso Barrio of Mayagüez; his parents were Juan Rullán and Ramona Rivera.
["Genealogias Biografias e Historia del Mayagüez de Ayer y Hoy y Antologia de Puerto Rico"; by Martin Gaudier (Author); Pages: 382–383; Publisher: Imprenta "El Aguila", San German (1959); Language: Spanish] He had his primary education in "El Liceo de Mayagüez".
Political career
When he got involved in politics, he began as a follower of
Antonio R. Barcelo, but it did not take long for him to become its standard bearer in Mayagüez.
He was nominated and elected mayor of Mayagüez in 1920, winning by 2,111 votes.
He won again in the 1924 elections, being nominated by the newly established "Alianza Puertoriqueña" Party, winning over the
Coalitión candidate Rafael Marange by over 4,000 votes.
He again won in the 1928 elections, also being nominated by the Aliancista Party, winning over
Coalitión candidate Alfonso González by only 425 votes.
As mayor of the city, he was involved in numerous projects. He built a new
aqueduct with a modern filtration plant under the direction of Ing. Monsiur Lefranc.
He also built the new
Mayagüez City Hall
The Casa Consistorial De Mayaguez, more commonly known as the Alcaldia de Mayagüez, is the city hall for the Municipality of Mayagüez. It is located in front of the Colón Main Square facing the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Cathedral.
H ...
under the direction of the engineers/architects Adriano González Martínez, Alonso Aguilar and Ignacio Flores.
Under his terms as mayor, other projects were also built, such as the Luis Muñoz Rivera Park, he converted the old municipal jail into the Muñoz Rivera School, which now serves as the
Hostos School of Law, he rebuilt the historic San Antonio Hospital, and he also rebuilt the Mariano Riera Palmer School which had been mostly destroyed by the
earthquake of 1918.
During his second term as mayor, he had almost all the main streets of the city paved with
tar
Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...
, later on, the streets were paved with
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
.
Personal life
Juanín Rullán married doña Dolores Cuebas, who was also from Mayagüez.
They only had one daughter, named Lolita Eneida Rullán de Rúa.
See also
*
Politics of Puerto Rico
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rullan Rivera, Juan
1884 births
Year of death missing
Mayors of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Politicians from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican farmers