Ramón Emeterio Betances

Ramón Emeterio Betances was a physician, surgeon, abolitionist, and the primary architect of the Puerto Rican independence movement, known as "El Padre de la Patria" (The Father of the Homeland). He received his medical degree from the University of Paris in 1855 and upon returning to Puerto Rico founded a hospital and combated a cholera epidemic. He organized the Grito de Lares uprising of September 23, 1868, the first major revolt against Spanish colonial rule in Puerto Rico. Exiled to France, he served as delegate to the Cuban Revolutionary Junta and was awarded the French Legion of Honor.