Early Years
Cordero was born in Barrio Playa in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He attended public schools in Ponce: The Ramiro Colon and Rafael Pujals elementary schools, the McKinley middle school, and the Ponce High School. He graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in Arts with a concentration in Political Sciences, Economy, and Social Sciences. As a student Cordero was a member of the Nu Sigma Beta Fraternity Delta Chapter.
Cordero was involved in Puerto Rican politics since 1969, when he began working as a special aide to former Governor of Puerto Rico Rafael Hernández Colón, then president of the Puerto Rico Senate. A member of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), Cordero went on to work in the Departments of Finance and Workers' Rights (Spanish: Departmento del Derecho al Trabajo).
Read more about this topic: Rafael Cordero Santiago
Famous quotes related to early years:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“Parents ... are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don’t fulfil the promise of their early years.”
—Anthony Powell (b. 1905)