Sol Luis Descartes Andreu (August 25, 1911 in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

– July 20, 1993 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 ...

) was a graduate in agricultural economics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, served as Puerto Rico's Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Governor

Luis Muñoz Marín José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898April 30, 1980) was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, statesman and was the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, regarded as the "Architect of the Puerto Rico Commonwealth." In 1948 he ...

from 1949 to 1955. In 1935, he assisted in the preparation of Puerto Rico's 1935 Agricultural Census. After his career in public service, Descartes served as president of the

Interamerican University of Puerto Rico The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has c ...

from 1970 to 1977. After supporting the status quo as a member of Puerto Rico's Popular Democratic Party for many decades, he was appointed by Governor Luis A. Ferré as a member of the Ad Hoc Committee that studied the extension of the presidential vote to Puerto Rico. In the 1970s his sympathies for statehood became apparent, as Jose Trias Monge noted in his book "Historia Constitucional de Puerto Rico, Vol. V" and he became active in the

Puerto Rico Statehood Commission The Puerto Rico Statehood Commission was a grassroots non-partisan organization dedicated to research and education on Puerto Rico statehood. Founded by then Rep. José Granados in 1981, the organization operated until 1986 and included among its ...

headed by then Rep.

José Granados José Granados Navedo (born February 1, 1946), is a former Speaker Pro Tem of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. Married, with three children, he lives with his family in Florida. Early years While attending the Academia Catolica during ...

between 1981 and 1986. His archives were donated to the Center for Historical Research or

Centro de Investigaciones Históricas Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...

(CIH) of the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras.

References

Sources

Historia del Recinto Metropolitano de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico (1962–2012) by Pedro A. González Vélez, Ph.D. {{DEFAULTSORT:Descartes, Sol Luis 1911 births 1993 deaths Cornell University alumni Puerto Rican farmers Secretaries of Treasury of Puerto Rico