Manuela Santiago Collazo
Manuela Santiago Collazo (born c. 1938) is a Puerto Rican politician who is the mayor of the city of Vieques.
Santiago Collazo became Vieques' first female mayor during the 1984 general elections. She has remained on that position since.
A popular politician among Vieques residents and among many mainland Puerto Rico residents as well, Santiago Collazo has been met with various difficult moments during her tenure as mayor: In 1989, Vieques was one of the most severely affected Puerto Rican cities after the passing of hurricane Hugo. Large amounts of money were required to return the town to normality, as the island-city's boat service to Fajardo had to be temporarily stopped, the local airline, Vieques Air Link, suffered temporary loss of some of their aircraft, and the city lost electricity and water services. The city was later also affected by other hurricanes and storms.
In 1995, many important political figures wrote a letter to United States president Bill Clinton, asking to investigate an incident where an atomic bomb supposedly hit Vieques by accident in 1966. Santiago Collazo signed the letter and sent it to the president. It could be said that this was a small beginning to what would later become mass protests by Vieques citizens against the presence of the military there. After David Sanes' death by a military bomb in 1999, the protests intensified, and, by 2003, the military left the island of Vieques.
Although most Viequenses were happy to see the military leave, Santiago Collazo was then faced with an economical problem: military camps in Vieques were responsible for part of the island's tourism, as many Puerto Ricans from mainland Puerto Rico and beyond would travel constantly to join the protesters, and the soldiers themselves provided the town with a source of income, as many of them would buy things at Vieques' private stores. However, after the leaving of the military, a solution arrived in the opening of a major hotel located on a Vieques beach. With the hotel's success, Santiago Collazo and other hotel companies have spoken about opening branches in the island. Santiago Collazo has also led a campaign to attract more airlines to Vieques' small airport facility; she has succeeded in part: whereas during the early 1980s only Vieques Air Link and Prinair provided service to the airport, now the airport is served by Vieques Air Link, Air Culebra and a number of other small carriers from around the rest of the Caribbean.
On September of 2004, only two months before election day, her city was again hit by an hurricane, this time Jeanne.
Santiago Collazo is expected to retain her post as mayor during the 2004 elections.