Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández Rivera was sworn in as president of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday in Humacao in an auditorium packed with enthusiastic party faithful. (Left: Facebook via Karilyn Bonilla; right: Facebook via Popular Democratic Party)
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Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández Rivera was sworn in as president of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday in Humacao during a meeting of the party’s general council.
In a speech, Hernández Rivera emphasized the need to reinvent the PDP to establish a new structure, philosophy and leadership. “Destiny places us at a crossroads: becoming history or continuing to make history,” he declared. “To make history, we need a new structure, a new philosophy, and new leadership. To make history, this party — like this country — needs a refoundation.”
Héctor Luis Acevedo, the former mayor of San Juan and former president of the PDP, officiated the ceremony. Hernández Rivera was accompanied by his parents, José A. Hernández and Patricia Rivera, his sister Ana Patricia Hernández, and his wife Mónica Teresa Pascual, who held the Bible that belonged to former governor Rafael Hernández Colón — Hernández Rivera’s paternal grandfather — during the swearing-in ceremony, signifying respect and commitment to the party’s history.
Hernández Rivera summarized the challenges facing the current party structure, which he believes is hindered by bureaucratic processes. To create a new structure, he proposed forming a committee with managerial and political talents and conducting a consultation process with stakeholders. The committee would work to “design a structure as if we were founding a new party,” he said. The focus of the new structure would be to facilitate PDP voting across Puerto Rico, mobilize early voting, recruit electoral officials, raise funds, and win elections.
Regarding the PDP’s philosophy, Hernández Rivera announced plans to engage with those who have left the party, current supporters, and disenchanted youth. He envisions the PDP as a “realistic, autonomist, and centrist” party and elaborated on that vision. Recognizing that the electorate now tends to vote for candidates rather than parties, he stated that the PDP must prepare to present the best candidates for the 2028 elections. He emphasized that the renewal of leadership will involve attracting new figures while also retaining capable and committed leaders. “We need new faces, but we cannot disregard good ones,” Hernández Rivera said. “The refoundation of the Popular Party requires all of us.”
To facilitate recruitment and training, he proposed reviving the Institute of Democratic Education (INSED), which shaped leaders such as William Miranda Marín and José Aponte de la Torre, the late mayors of Caguas and Carolina, respectively, in the 1980s.
In concluding his message, Hernández Rivera highlighted the importance of building a “winning alliance” for the entire PDP, similar to the coalition he formed for his campaign for resident commissioner during the 2024 elections.
“As I said on election night, we won the commissionership because we united Puerto Ricans of all viewpoints. We brought them together without me having to stop being who I am: popular and pro-statehood,” Hernández Rivera said. “With that victory, we demonstrated that we can be a big house where all Puerto Ricans feel welcome without sacrificing our identity or convictions. Those who did not identify as either popular or pro-statehood but shared the core and urgent elements of our philosophy felt included. We were the only ones able to defeat the NPP [the pro-statehood New Progressive Party] at the island level. We represented the winning alliance.”
The event concluded with the presentation of a new version of the historic anthem “Jalda Arriba,” originally from the 1948 campaign, which has been updated multiple times, with its latest version from 1976. The latest reinterpretation of the anthem symbolizes the spirit of renewal that Hernández Rivera aims to instill in the party, marking the beginning of a new era for the PDP.
