Maria de Lourdes Santiago
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Maria de Lourdes Santiago is a lawyer and journalist from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. She is the current vice-president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and in 2004 became the first woman from that party to be elected into the Senate in the history of Puerto Rico.
Biography
Santiago has a bachelor's degree in theatre and a master's in law from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras.
In 1997, she began working as a legal counselor for Victor García San Inocencio while he served in the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. She also worked as a legal counselor for Manuel Rodríguez Orellana while he served as Senator of Puerto Rico.
In 2000, she began working as legal counselor for Fernando Martín García while he served as Senator.
In January 2001, she was elected as vice-president of her political party, and in 2003 announced her candidacy as Senator for the Puerto Rico General Elections of 2004. On November 2, 2004, Santiago was elected and became the first woman in the Puerto Rican Senate in the history of Puerto Rico to represent the Puerto Rican Independence Party.
Santiago is the writer of a column that is published on the El Nuevo Dia newspaper, and was arrested during the Navy-Vieques protests for illegally trespassing military facilities to protest the military's bombing practice. She spent one month in jail as part of her sentence.
External links
- De Lourdes Biography at the PIP website (http://www.independencia.net/historia/biomariadelourdes.html) - official site, in Spanish.