Eugenio María de Hostos (1839-1903) was a major Puerto Rican social philosopher, educator, and writer. His lifelong mission was to create a Spanish West Indies Confederation.

Eugenio María de Hostos was born in Mayagüez on Jan. 11, 1839. He attended school in San Juan. At the age of 13 he went to Spain to study at the Institute of Bilbao and the University of Madrid. While studying law, he wrote newspaper and magazine articles on the need for autonomy for the Spanish West Indies. He joined the Spanish republicans because their leaders promised autonomy for Cuba and Puerto Rico; but when the republicans triumphed over the monarchy, he refused the post of deputy for Puerto Rico, feeling betrayed. In 1869 he left for New York, where he became managing editor of a Cuban revolutionary newspaper. He was already well known because of his sociopolitical novel, La...