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Anibal Acevedo-Vila

Personal Profile

Anibal Acevedo-Vila
  • Birth Name:
    Aníbal S. Acevedo-Vilá
  • Date of Birth:
    February 13, 1962
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Aquarius
  • Place of Birth:
    San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    American
  • Religion:
    Roman
  • Education:

    San José High School, Puerto Rico

    BA Political Science, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, PR

Family

Anibal Acevedo-Vila
  • Father:
    Salvador Acevedo
  • Mother:
    Elba Vilá
  • Spouse:
    Luisa "Piti" Gándara
  • Son:
    Juan Carlos
  • Daughter:
    Gabriela

Career

Anibal Acevedo-Vila

Trivia

Anibal Acevedo-Vila
  • During May 2005, confrontations between the executive and the legislative branches reached a new climax when the Puerto Rico legislature voted to override a veto by Acevedo Vilá, thus becoming the first democratically-elected governor to have a veto overridden by the legislature.
  • Acevedo Vilá was finally sworn as Governor on January 2, 2005.
  • Acevedo Vilá is also the first elected governor born after the adoption of the 1952 Constitution of Puerto Rico.
  • Acevedo Vilá won the Puerto Rico General Elections of 2004 by approximately 3,880 votes (0.2 percent of the vote) over former governor Pedro Rosselló.
  • On August 14, he was again elected as President of the Party.
  • José Hernández Mayoral again surfaced as the likely party's candidate for Governor for the 2004 elections.
  • In mid-2003, Governor Sila M. Calderón announced she would not seek a second term on the following year's elections.
  • Acevedo was sworn in at the Washington Capitol Building on January 3, 2001. Among the legislative measures helmed by Acevedo were the assignment of equal funds for education and the Medicare program in Puerto Rico.
  • Acevedo Vilá won the primary held in November 14, 1999 with 54% of the votes.
  • Acevedo Vilá settled to be the candidate for the Resident Commissioner position, but he was challenged by José Alfredo Hernández Mayoral, son of former Governor and Acevedo Vilá's mentor, Rafael Hernández Colón.

Biography

Anibal Acevedo-Vila
Last Updated: Saturday, September 19, 2009

Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá (born February 13, 1962) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the eighth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a semi-autonomous unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus (LL.M. 1987) and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree.

Acevedo Vilá has held various public service positions in the Puerto Rico territorial government under the Popular Democratic Party, serving as a member of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico (1993–2001) and Resident Commissioner (2001–2005), before he was sworn in as Governor on January 2, 2005. Acevedo Vilá was also a member of the National Governors Association, the Southern Governors' Association and the Democratic Governors Association, and a collaborator of President Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

On March 27, 2008, Acevedo Vilá was charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with 19 counts of campaign finance corruption and conspiracy to violate United States federal election laws. He subsequently organized a press conference, where he claimed that he is innocent of all charges presented against him. On August 19, 2008, he was charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with five more counts.

On December 1, 2008 Judge Paul Barbadoro determined that 15 of those charges were based on a flawed theory, leaving him with only nine charges. On March 20, 2009, Acevedo Vilá was found by a jury not guilty of all the charges against him. On November 4, 2008, he failed in his bid for a second term, losing to incumbent Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño. Two days later he stepped down as president of the Popular Democratic Party.

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