Ley 2 del 1991

(P. del S. 964)

Para designar a la Escuela Elemental Urbana Nueva, ubicada en la Carretera PR-102 a la entrada de la zona urbana del pueblo de Cabo Rojo, como Escuela Elemental Severo E. Colberg Ramírez.

EXPOSICION DE MOTIVOS

Severo E. Colberg Ramírez nace en Cabo Rojo el 16 de septiembre de 1924. Sus primeros estudios los lleva a cabo en su pueblo que quiso y amó tanto, Cabo Rojo. Luego obtiene un Bachillerato en Artes en la Universidad de Puerto Rico en 1950. Su inteligencia y capacidad fue algo indiscutible en su vida y así lo demuestra el que la Universidad de Puerto Rico le otorgara una beca para hacer una Maestría en Administración Pública en la prestigiosa Universidad Estadounidense de Harvard. Cuando su intelecto madura escoge las aulas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico para hacer sus aportaciones como servidor público y sobresale en la pedagogía superior como Director de la Escuela Graduada de Administración Pública de la Universidad, Ayudante del Rector Don Jaime Benítez y Ayudante del Decano de Administración, Lcdo. Hiram R. Cancio.

Comienza su faena legislativa como Representante por Acumulación de 1964-68; Don Luis Muñoz Marín lo recluta y cubre en este período la vacante dejada por Don Jorge Font Saldaña, y preside la Comisión de Gobierno y Vice-Presidente de la Cámara. En el 1969 es nombrado Secretario del Senado y ese mismo año es electo Senador por Acumulación (1969-72), Presidiendo la Comisión de Hacienda. En 1972 es electo Representante por Acumulación y Vice-Presidente de dicho cuerpo legislativo.

En 1976 es reelecto Representante a la Cámara y Portavoz de la Minoria por el Partido Popular Democrático. En el 1980 es reelecto Representante por Acumulación y de 1982-84 Preside la Cámara de Representantes.

En las elecciones de 1984 y 1988 es reelecto nuevamente Representante por Acumulación y Preside la Comisión de Desarrollo Socio-Económico y Planificación hasta el momento de su muerte. Perteneció al Ateneo Puertorriqueño, a la Academia de Artes y Ciencias; al Club Caborrojeño del Area Metropolitana y fue miembro de las Fuerzas Armadas de los Estados Unidos de 1943-46, columnista del Periódico El Mundo y miembro activo hasta su fallecimiento de la Junta de Gobierno del Partido Popular Democrático.

Severo E. Colberg Ramírez era Cabo Rojo y Cabo Rojo era Severo E. Colberg Ramírez. Los que lo vieron en la palestra enrojecido el rostro, su nariz aguileña enfilando puntería contra la presa rival, los ojos claros fijos en el horizonte, blandiendo su elocuencia contra el objetivo, pensarian que era la reencarnación de su antepasado, el pirata Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano.

Pero, no era ente de rapiña. Severo E. Colberg Ramírez fue un alma de poeta, conversador de aguda sensibilidad intelectual que abundaba sobre cualquier tema sin el amparo de las enciclopedias; maestro y orador de barricada y sobre todo, honrado.

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No era tan fiero como parecía y sus más heridos rivales de la tribuna siempre tuvieron una frase de elogio para el gran ser humano escondido tras el semblante iracundo y el camuflaje del título "El Látigo". Severo no era tan severo ni tan látigo.

Era Cabo Rojo porque representó la esencia misma del Cabo Rojo histórico, del Cabo Rojo individualista, forjado por la sangre libertaria de inmigrantes que de todos los contornos del planeta desde tiempo inmemorial llegaban a las costas de La Bocaya en busca de las libertades que su país natal le había negado. Allí se enlazaron los de origen germánico, los hebreos, corsos-saturados del espíritu napoleónico, vascos con almas de gudaris, los eslavos de terminación "wicth", con la mezcla afro-caribeña hispánica del criollo.

Severo E. Colberg Ramírez fue un luchador incansable en toda su larga trayectoria de 36 años de servicio público. Del ala liberal-autonomista del Partido Popular Democrático y considerado como el máximo defensor del autonomismo puertorriqueño en la época actual. Luchó contra su enfermedad durante 38 días, el 18 de noviembre de 1990 se siente enfermo un día después de que el Partido Popular Democrático en el cual militó reafirmara el sentimiento autonomista en el Teatro La Perla en Ponce, donde hace 103 años un grupo de líderes había hecho lo propio. Enfermo, falleció el día 26 de diciembre de 1990, luchando por lo mejor para su gente y su pueblo, murió como un gladiador, murió como vivió con gran dignidad y ejemplo para nuestra juventud.

Decrétase por la Asamblea Legislativa de Puerto Rico:

Sección 1.- Se designa la Escuela Elemental Urbana Nueva, ubicada en la Carretera PR-102 a la entrada de la zona urbana del pueblo de Cabo Rojo como Escuela Elemental Severo E. Colberg Ramírez.

Sección 2.- Esta Ley comenzará a regir inmediatamente después de su aprobación.

Presidente del Senado Presidente de la Cámara

Departamento dn Fet-10 CERTIFICO: que es copia fiel y exacta del orl. ginal aprobado y firmado por el Gobernador del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico el

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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF PUERTO RICO

Office of Legislative Services

September 28, 1994

Nélida Jiménez-Velázquez, Director of the Office of Legislative Services of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, hereby certifies to the Secretary of State that she has duly compared the English and Spanish texts of Act No. 2 (S.B. 964) of the 5th Session of the 11th Legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, entitled:

AN ACT to designate the New Urban Elementary School, located on Highway PR-102 at the entrance to the urban zone of the town of Cabo Rojo, as the Severo E. Colberg Ramírez Elementary School,

and finds the same are complete, true and correct versions of each other.

Nélida Jiménez-Velázquez

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(No. 2)

(March 8, 1991)

AN ACT

To designate the New Urban Elementary School, located on Highway PR-102 at the entrance to the urban zone of the town of Cabo Rojo, as the Severo E. Colberg Ramírez Elementary School.

STATEMENT OF MOTIVES

Severo E. Colberg-Ramírez was born in Cabo Rojo on September 16, 1924. He received his earliest education in his beloved town of birth, Cabo Rojo. In 1950 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Puerto Rico. His undoubted intelligence and abilities were amply acknowledged by the fact that the University of Puerto Rico granted him a scholarship to study a Master's Degree in Public Administration at the very prestigious Harvard University. After achieving intellectual maturity he selects the University of Puerto Rico as the vessel for his contribution as a public servant whereby he excels in the field of higher education as Director of the School of Public Administration of the University of Puerto Rico, as Assistant to the President, Jaime Benítez, and as Assistant to the Dean of Administration, Atty. Hiram R. Cancio.

He initiates his legislative career as Representative-at-Large from 1964 to 1968, is recruited by Governor Luis Muñoz-Marín and during this period occupies the seat left vacant by Jorge Font-Saldaña. He is then elected Chairman of the Committee for Government and Vice-President of the House of Representatives. In 1969 he is appointed Secretary of the Senate and on that same year is elected Senator-at-Large (1969-72), and Chairman of the Committee on Finance. In 1972 he is elected Representative-at-Large and Vice-President of that legislative body.

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In 1976 he is reelected to the House of Representatives and named Minority Spokesperson for the Popular Democratic Party. In 1980 he is again elected Representative-at-Large and from 1982 to 1984 acts as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

During the 1984 and 1988 elections he is again elected Representative-at-Large and made Chairman of the Committee for Socio-Economic Development and Planning, positions which he held until the time of his death. He was a member of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño, the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Club Caborrojeño of the Metropolitan Area, and of the Armed Forces of the United States of America from 1943-46. He was also a columnist for the newspaper El Mundo and until his death an active member of the Governing Board of the Popular Democratic Party.

Severo E. Colberg-Ramírez was Cabo Rojo and Cabo Rojo was Severo E. Colberg-Ramírez.

Those who saw him in action in the political arena, with reddened countenance, aquiline nose pointing directly at his rival, his clear-eyed look staring straight into the horizon, brandishing his eloquence against his objective, would have thought him to be the reincarnation of his piratical ancestor, Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano.

But no bird of prey he. Severo E. Colberg-Ramírez was the soul of a poet, an intellectual conversationalist of acute sensitivity who broached any subject without recourse to any encyclopaedia. He was a teacher and a highly effective speaker at the barricades. And above all he was an honest man.

Not as fierce as he looked, his most deeply wounded political rivals always had a word of praise for the great human being hiding behind his wrathful mien and camouflaged under the sobriquet "El Látigo" (The Whip). Severo was neither as severe nor as "lashing" as he seemed.

He was Cabo Rojo because he represented the very essence of that historical town, a town unique in its individuality, shaped by the libertarian blood of immigrants who from time immemorial arrived from every corner of the planet to the coast of La Bocaya in search of those freedoms their native countries had denied them. There came together those of Germanic origin, the Hebrews, Corsicans seeped in the spirit of

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Napoleon, Basques with the souls of "Gudaris", Slavs with names ending in "wicth", joining with the Hispanic Afro-Caribbean mix which is the "Criollo."

Severo E. Colberg-Ramírez, an untiring fighter throughout his 36-year long career as a public servant within the liberal-autonomist wing of the Popular Democratic Party, was considered to be the greatest defender of Puerto Rican autonomy in our time. He struggled against his illness for 38 days, from November 18, 1990, when he felt ill one day after his own Popular Democratic Party reaffirmed the autonomous ideal at the La Perla Theater in Ponce, where 103 years before a group of leaders had done the same. Very ill, he passed away on December 26, 1990, fighting to achieve what was best for his people. He died the death of a gladiator. He died as he lived, in great dignity and as a fine example for our youth.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:

Section 1.- The New Urban Elementary School, located on Highway PR-102 at the entrance to the urban zone of the town of Cabo Rojo, is designated as the Severo E. Colberg Ramírez Elementary School.

Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.