Senator Nitza Morán

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 17, 1970, my parents, Iris Maria Trinidad and Miguel Angel Moran (a Vietnam War veteran), are still alive. My family composition includes a twin brother and a younger sister, and I am the proud mother of a 14-year-old teenager. I had the privilege of attending high school at a private school in Santurce, from which I graduated with honors and was a member of the National Honor Society. My academic interest was always science, and I decided to pursue my bachelor’s degree years in Boston at a Catholic university called Assumption College, from which I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Biology. Subsequently, I decided to continue my studies to acquire a master’s degree at the University of New Haven in the state of Connecticut, obtaining a degree in Forensic Science with a concentration in criminalistics (study of serological evidence). It was after that I returned to Puerto Rico to work at the Ponce School of Medicine on a research project on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), achieving a publication in the Journal of Microbiology for being able to determine the type of virus on the island, a very important achievement for determining its origin and identifying it in high-risk groups in the nineties. Upon concluding this great scientific discovery, I moved to San Juan and began working in the family businesses where my parents had already successfully acquired and built several businesses from which a family partnership was created. In this way, I acquired experience and knowledge of the business world where several business concepts were developed in the sector popularly called “La Placita del Mercado de Santurce” (The Little Plaza of the Santurce Market). In this way, and due to the need I felt in the sector, I later became a community leader, addressing the needs of the residential community with low and middle economic resources. This being a sector of commercial activity and observing the community need, it was then that I brought together the private sector businesses to help and address imperative needs at that time. After 19 years of presiding over the Association of Merchants of La Placita, I was able to create an environment of coexistence, survival, and resilience after the atmospheric events that the island went through from Hurricane Maria in 2017 to the COVID-19 pandemic that we live in today. These events, which undoubtedly disrupted everyone’s lives, led me to be able to attend to the needs of my community, where we were able to unite to impact and help Puerto Rican families, from bringing over 10,000 hot meals to isolated communities in several municipalities of the island to holding grocery delivery events, channeling aid to the elderly, delivering toys, among others. In addition, for several months, even without being a legislator, I promoted the project that would turn the historic sector into a tourist zone and which today is the number one destination on digital platforms such as “TripAdvisor” and “Google”. These experiences in wanting to help my people are what resonated with me as a person to make the decision to become a public servant and occupy a position in the New Progressive Party, a party that carries statehood as an ideal. It is this ideal that leads me to work tirelessly to change the colonial situation in which we find ourselves so that we can obtain all the benefits that the rest of the citizens of the American nation have. Without a doubt and convinced that I could make a difference in the legislature of Puerto Rico on the issue of statehood and break the molds of a traditional politician, I was elected last November to the Senate for the senatorial district of the municipalities of San Juan, Aguas Buenas, and Guaynabo. I am the second woman elected to the position after more than 8 years of it being occupied by men. In this new endeavor and committed to the progress of my country and Puerto Rican women, my projects are aimed at streamlining the business environment and addressing the Government’s agenda regarding empowerment and achieving social justice for all. I am proud that just 8 months into my political position, the current Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia has already signed and turned into law a bill of my authorship that extends aid to the families of police officers killed in the line of duty. My purpose is to be a facilitator, to be a link, and to modify the public perception of what a traditional politician is and especially that of an empowered, cutting-edge woman legislator where we transform lives and turn Puerto Rico into a first-rate country.