Rafael Picó Santana

Rafael Picó Santiago was one of Governor Luis Muñoz Marín's closest advisors. He served as chairman of the Puerto Rico Planning Board, and served from 1965 to 1968 as a member of the Puerto Rico Senate elected by Muñoz' Popular Democratic Party (PDP).

He studied geography at the University of Puerto Rico, and ended his bachelor's degree with honors in 1932. In 1934, obtained his master's degree in arts and in 1938, his doctorate, both at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The islands' first pro-statehood governor, Don Luis A. Ferré and President Richard M. Nixon, in 1970 created a joint United States-Puerto Rico Ad Hoc Committee to study the possibility of granting Puerto Ricans the right to vote for President as a means of building upon Puerto Rico's territorial relationship with the United States. They appointed pro-status quo PDP member Rafael Picó to co-chair the Ad Hoc Committee.

Picó Santiago was always considered to be one of the more pro-American members of the PDP.