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Eugenio María de Hostos (1839 – 1903) born Río Cañas, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, was a Puerto Rican educator and independence advocate known as "El Cuidadano de las Americas" (The Citizen of the Americas).
Hostos received his elementry schooling in San Juan and then went to Spain for both his secondary and law studies. As a student there, he became interested in politics. When Spain adopted its new constitution in 1869 and refused to grant Puerto Rico its independence, Hostos left and went to the United States. In the U.S. he became the editor of a journal called La Revolución.
In 1879, Hostos moved to the Dominican Republic, where he founded, in Santo Domingo, the first Normal School and introduced advanced teaching methods. Hostos later traveled to South America and taught in Chile. As a professor at the University of Chile, he was instrumental in having women admitted.
Hostos returned to the U.S. in 1898 and actively participated in the Puerto Rican and Cuban independence movements. His hopes for Puerto Rico's independence, after the Spanish-American War turned into disappointment when the United States government rejected his proposals and instead converted the island into a U.S. Territory.
Hostos then returned to the Dominican Republic where he played a major role in reorganizing their educational and railroad systems.
He wrote many essays on social-science topics and is considered as one of the first systematic sociologists in Latin America. His most important work was La Peregrinación de Bayoán (1863). He was also known to be a supporter of Women's rights.
Hostos died in Santo Domingo in 1903.
There is a monument honoring Hostos in Spain and another in his native city of Mayagüez, created by reowned sculptor Tomás Batista.