List of governors of Puerto Rico in the context of "Direct election"

Juan Ponce de León (c. 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador known for leading the first official European expedition to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Florida in 1513. He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, Spain, in 1474. Though little is known about his family, he was of noble birth and served in the Spanish military from a young age. He first came to the Americas as a "gentleman volunteer" with Christopher Columbus's second expedition in 1493.

By the early 1500s, Ponce de León was a top military official in the colonial government of Hispaniola, where he helped crush a rebellion of the native Taíno people. He was authorized to explore the neighboring island of Puerto Rico in 1508 and to take office as the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown in 1509. While Ponce de León grew quite wealthy from his plantations and mines, he faced an ongoing legal conflict with Diego Colón, the late Christopher Columbus's son, over the right to govern Puerto Rico. After a long court battle, Colón replaced Ponce de León as governor in 1511. Ponce de León decided to follow the advice of the sympathetic King Ferdinand and explore more of the Caribbean Sea.

La Fortaleza (English: "the fortress"), officially the Palacio de Santa Catalina ("Saint Catherine's Palace"), is the official residence and workplace of the governor of Puerto Rico. Located in the historic quarter of Old San Juan in the capital municipality of San Juan, it has served as the governor’s residence since the 16th century, making it the oldest executive mansion in continuous use in the New World. Built as a medieval fortress from 1533 to 1540 by orders of King Charles I of Spain, and remodeled to its present Neoclassical style in 1846 by orders of Governor Rafael Arístegui y Vélez, it was the first fortification erected by the Spanish on San Juan Islet to defend San Juan Bay, the harbor of Old San Juan. Alongside El Morro, San Cristóbal, and other forts part of the Walls of Old San Juan, it protected strategically and militarily important Puerto Rico, or La Llave de las Indias (The Key to the Indies), from invasion by competing world powers and harassment by privateers and pirates during the Age of Discovery and Sail. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983.

Situated in the western end of San Juan Islet in the Old San Juan historic quarter, La Fortaleza, seat of the executive branch, is about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Capitol of Puerto Rico, seat of the legislative branch, in the center of the Islet in the Puerta de Tierra historic district, and 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Supreme Court Building, seat of the judicial branch, in the eastern end of the Islet in Puerta de Tierra.

The governor of Puerto Rico (Spanish: gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. Elected to unlimited four-year terms through popular vote by the residents of the archipelago and island, the governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Puerto Rico and the commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. Currently, Jenniffer González-Colón is serving as the 190th governor of Puerto Rico.

The governor has a duty to enforce local laws, to convene the Legislative Assembly, the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Legislative Assembly, to appoint government officers, to appoint justices, and to grant pardons. Since 1948, the governor has been elected by the people of Puerto Rico. Prior to that, the governor was appointed either by the king of Spain (1510–1898) or the president of the United States (1898–1948).

The Captaincy General of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Capitanía General de Puerto Rico) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire, created in 1582 to provide better military management of the main island of Puerto Rico, previously under the rule of a governor of Puerto Rico, jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, and authority of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Its creation was part of the, ultimately futile, Habsburg attempt in the late 16th century to prevent incursion into the Caribbean by competing European world powers. The institution lasted until 1898 in Puerto Rico, when an autonomous provincial government, headed by a governor-general and an insular parliament, was instituted months before Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States in 1898 following defeat in the Spanish–American War.

José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898 – April 30, 1980), most commonly known as Luis Muñoz Marín, was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico from 1949 to 1965. He previously served as the fourth president of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 1941 to 1948.

Founder of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in 1938, Muñoz Marín promoted the industrialization of the archipelago and island in continued association with the United States, prioritizing economic development over independence. He is regarded as the architect of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Free Associated State of Puerto Rico'), the current political status of Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory under the sovereign jurisdiction of the United States with local constitutional self-government since 1952.

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) (IATA: SJU, ICAO: TJSJ, FAA LID: SJU), previously known as Isla Verde International Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Isla Verde), is the main international airport of Puerto Rico serving the capital municipality of San Juan and its metropolitan area since 1955. Named after Luis Muñoz Marín, the first popularly elected governor of the archipelago and island, the 1,600 acre (647 ha) airport is located in the beachfront resort district of Isla Verde in the municipality of Carolina, about 4 to 7 miles (6.4 to 11.3 km) east of the Milla de Oro financial district in Hato Rey barrio, Condado resort area and Isla Grande secondary airport in Santurce barrio, and Old San Juan historic quarter in San Juan Islet. SJU processed 13,247,382 total passengers in 2024, making it the busiest airport in Puerto Rico and the insular Caribbean.

Handling 93% of passenger flow and 90% of air cargo into Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is the 39th busiest airport by passenger enplanement, 38th by total passenger traffic, 24th by international passenger traffic, and 23rd by cargo throughput in the United States and its territories. It is also the 46th busiest airport in North America and the 15th busiest airport in Latin America by total passenger traffic.