Ruben Berrios

Ruben Berrios Martinez (born June 21, 1939) is is a recurring Puerto Rican Gubernatorial candidate who is viewed as being persistent and stubborn.

Berrios is a member of the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño, or PIP, a political party that has never won an election in Puerto Rico. Yet he has been a member for about 3 decades now, and plans to keep going on, trying to convince people that the PIP's political ideas are the best ideas for Puerto Rico.

As a lawyer, Berrios is the only man in Puerto Rican history to be acredited by the international court.

As a politician, he has been President of the PIP 5 times, running for Governor of Puerto Rico in 1972, 1976, 1980, 1988, and 2000. Although he has had little success at the voting booth, that can be atributed to the fact people in Puerto Rico are afraid that Puerto Rico could become the next Cuba if his party wins the elections.

Berrios is widely admired by many people in Puerto Rico as a man who is proud of being Puerto Rican and who stands up to the United States many times. Proof of that is that, the only time he didn't run for Governor in the period from 1972 to 1988, in 1984, he ran for Senator and won by a landslide, 84 percent of the general vote being given to him.

In 1999, Berrios began camping at the Vieques bombing grounds. He was diagnosed with cancer a little after that. He was one of the loudest celebrity protesters Vieques had. He ran for Governor once again, but soon after the elections were over, he returned to Vieques and is a regular visitor there. His cancer is considered to be in remission and he is yet to decide whether he wants to run for Governor again in 2004 or not.