José Menéndez Monroig is a former Senator in the Puerto Rico Legislature serving from 1968 till 1976. After the 1972 Puerto Rican elections Carlos Romero Barcelo

Carlos Romero Barceló

Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the fifth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party and also Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico from 1993 to 2001, making him one of the more successful...

 suggested that he be selected Minority Leader

Minority leader

In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative body. Given the two-party nature of the U.S. system, the minority leader is almost inevitably either a Republican or a Democrat, with their counterpart being of the opposite party. The position...

 in the Senate

Senate of Puerto Rico

The Senate of Puerto Rico is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate is composed of 27 senators, representing eight constituent senatorial districts across the commonwealth, with two senators elected per district; an...

 instead of Justo Méndez who had occupied that position in the past four years. He was one of the founders of Estadistas Unidos

Estadistas Unidos

Estadistas Unidos was a non-partisan organization created by don Luis A. Ferré in January, 1967 after the Statehood Republican Party , of which he was its long-time gubernatorial candidate, met at the San Jerónimo Hilton hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico and refused to defend the statehood option in...

. He is a member of Phi Sigma Alpha

Phi Sigma Alpha

Phi Sigma Alpha Fraternity commonly known as La Sigma, is a Puerto Rican fraternity established originally as the Sigma Delta Alpha Fraternity on October 22, 1928 at the University of Puerto Rico by 12 students and a professor...

fraternity.