Draft:Carlos López Feliciano

Carlos J. López Feliciano (born 1943) is a retired attorney who served as a judge for Puerto Rico's Court of Appeals. He also was the island's Electoral Commissioner for the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in the State Elections Commission, and former Secretary General of the PPD during the early 2000s.

López Feliciano was superintendent of the Puerto Rico police from 1985 to 1989. Rafael Hernandez Colon was the governor who appointed him for the position. During the fall of 1986, López Feliciano announced the creation of a new police unit to improve security for tourists visiting the port of San Juan aboard cruise ships Lopez-Feliciano's management of the concept controlled crime and maintained the attractiveness of tourist areas.

As Superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police, López Feliciano participated in the rescue operations and investigation of the Dupont Plaza fire that took place on 1987 New Year's Eve. During López Feliciano's administration of the agency, the Puerto Rico Joint Forces of Rapid Action (FURA) bureau was created, and this unit was made up of several divisions of the police department, including offshore boat teams and divers, search-and-rescue (SAR), special weapons and tactics (SWAT), criminal intelligence, and the Air Services Division (ASD).

Lopez Feliciano's work as police superintendent is remembered for the numerous tactical raids aimed at reducing drug trafficking in the island. During these raids, dozens of drug dealers were arrested, and police seized millions of dollars in cocaine and marijuana, as well as assault rifles and automatic weapons. Lopez Feliciano, in his capacity of Police Superintendent, dismantled the feared police intelligence division in the midst of a controversy over the unit's campaigns of political repression and illegal surveillance A former police agent, William Colón Berríos, who was found guilty of conspiracy and perjury, explained during a radio interview how the Intelligence Division created files during the 1970s and 1980s of alleged subversives and said Carlos López Feliciano had a file in this surveillance division because he sympathized with left-leaning pro-independence politicians.

During the 1987 visit of King Juan Carlos I of Spain to Puerto Rico, López Feliciano coordinated the deployment of about 800 commonwealth police officers through the city to provide security for the visit. Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon considered Lopez Feliciano a great police chief and one of the factors responsible for the 1988 electoral victory of the Popular Democratic Party.

In December of 1988, Hernandez Colon, appointed López Feliciano deputy-chief-of-staff of the Puerto Rico Secretariat of Governance. López Feliciano retired from public service during the early 2010s, and wrote commentary notes about law and politics for El Nuevo Día newspaper until the early 2020s. He served as a consultant in public safety issues after his retirement.