Manuel Rodríguez Orellana (born March 7, 1948, in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

) is a legal scholar, lawyer, lecturer, columnist, published poet and political leader of the

Puerto Rican Independence Movement Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to gain independence for the Geography of Puerto Rico, island, first from the Spanish Empire until 1898 and since then from the United States. ...

. He is the son of former Dean of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law (1944–1960), Manuel Rodríguez Ramos.

Academic distinctions

Manuel Rodríguez Orellana’s scholarly career included a tenured position as professor of law at

Northeastern University School of Law The Northeastern University School of Law is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. History Northeastern University School of Law was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1898 as the f ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Rodríguez Orellana also served as a professor of law at Inter-American University School of Law in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

. Furthermore, Rodríguez Orellana was a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

during the mid-1980s. Harking further back, from the 1970s to the present, Manuel Rodríguez Orellana has represented the

Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party (, PIP) is a social-democratic political party in Puerto Rico that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. Those who follow the PIP ideology are usually called ''independentist ...

(PIP) at international summits such as those organized and held by political parties (including dozens of incumbent parties in government) from around the world affiliated to the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

(SI). Manuel Rodríguez Orellana has also served as a key negotiator, diplomat and as speaker before the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(UN), the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

and as an appointed envoy to deal and enter into extensive discussions with U.S. Executive-Committees (summoned and assembled by Presidential Executive Orders hailing from the

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

Administrations) charged to deal with Puerto Rico’s political status problem.

Career

Rodríguez Orellana is secretary for North American relations and former senator for the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP). He also served as Electoral Commissioner for the PIP during most of the 1990s. Currently, apart from his publicly acclaimed tenure as Secretary for North American Relations for the PIP, Rodríguez Orellana is a member of the executive-decisionmaking body within the PIP’s leadership organism. Rodríguez Orellana has written extensively about the history and the current problems revolving around Puerto Rico’s political status and the future of that country from an economic, legal, political and sociological perspective. He has held a regular column in Puerto Rico’s only English-language daily, the Pulitzer Prize-winning daily '' The San Juan Star'', as well as in that newspaper’s Spanish-language version. Rodríguez Orellana has also helped draft PIP strategy and implemented policy regarding relations with various

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Presidents, the

and the

. Rodríguez Orellana wrote and .

References

External links

''Portraits of Notable Individuals in the Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence''
* Statement of Rodriguez-Orellana (Statement by Manuel Rodríguez Orellana, Former Minority Leader in the Puerto Rico Senate, Secretary for North American Affairs Puerto Rican Independence Party, April 25, 2007) while appearing before U.S. Congress, can be found at:
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez Orellana, Manuel 1948 births Living people People from Río Piedras, Puerto Rico Politicians from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people of Spanish descent Puerto Rico Independence Party politicians Puerto Rican independence activists Puerto Rican lawyers Harvard Law School alumni Northeastern University faculty Brown University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni

Academic distinctions

Career

See also

References

External links