Héctor Ferrer

Héctor J. Ferrer Ríos^{[lower-alpha 1]} (born March 27, 1966) is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney. He served as a legislator in the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico from 2001 to 2012 for three consecutive terms. He was also president of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico (PPD) from 2008 to 2011.^[1]

Early life

Ferrer was born on March 27, 1966 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He received a sports scholarship in baseball to study at the University of North Carolina. There, he received a Bachelor's degree with a major in Economics and Industrial Relations. He then received a Juris doctor from the School of Law of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. In March 1997, he was one of the top 10 grades at the bar exam.^[2]

After graduating, Ferrer worked as a private attorney.

Political career

Ferrer was elected to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives at the 2000 general elections, to represent District 29.^[3] During his first term, he served as Majority Whip for the PPD, and presided the Committees of Ethics, Federal and International Affairs, and Consumer Affairs.^[4]

Ferrer was reelected at the 2004 general elections, this time as a Representative At-large.^[5] This time, his party lost the Majority in both the Senate and the House, and Ferrer took over as Minority Speaker.

In 2008, Ferrer was reelected for a third consecutive term, being the candidate with the most votes for the position among all candidates.^[6] Due to the defeat of the PPD in the race for Governor and both the Senate and the House, Ferrer remained as Minority Speaker.

The defeat of the PPD led to the resignation of Aníbal Acevedo Vilá as President. Héctor Ferrer became President of the party in November 10, 2008 after a meeting of the Board of Directors which included veteran leaders like Héctor Luis Acevedo, Rafael Hernández Colón, and Miguel Hernández Agosto.^[7]

In 2011, he surrendered the presidency of the party to new gubernatorial candidate, Alejandro García Padilla. He had initially announced his intentions to run for Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, but then announced his decision to run for mayor of San Juan, against incumbent Jorge Santini at the 2012 general elections.

Personal life

Ferrer was in a relationship Elisa "Beba" Hernández for seven years. They have a son together. Ferrer has two other children from a previous relationship. Ferrer's brother, Eduardo, was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012.

Ferrer is an avid athlete and practices a variety of sports, including baseball, jogging, cycling, and swimming, among others.

In September 2015, Ferrer announced that he was diagnosed with cancer in the esophagus.^[8]

Domestic abuse scandal

In February 2012, Ferrer was detained after allegations of domestic abuse against his long-term partner, Elisa Hernández.^[9] Initially, Hernández was granted a protection order against Ferrer for one year. Shortly after, however, she asked for it to be rescinded.^[10] With conflicting versions surrounding the circumstances of the event and how it was handled, Ferrer resigned all of his political positions five days after the accusation.^[11] Several months later, the Office of the Special Independent Prosecutor's Panel (FEI in Spanish) determined there was insufficient evidence against Ferrer and opted not to press any charges against him.^[12]

Notes

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