Alexandra Lúgaro

Alexandra Lúgaro Aponte (born June 10, 1981) is a Puerto Rican attorney, businesswoman, and politician who was an official candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico during the 2016 elections. She announced her candidacy on March 17, 2016. Lúgaro obtained a total of 175,831 votes (11.13%). In November 2019, Lúgaro announced plans to again run for governor, this time as the candidate of the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana.

Lúgaro was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She attended the High School of the University of Puerto Rico, graduating at the age of 15. At that age, she was admitted at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus where she received a bachelor's degree in business administration, with minors in finance, marketing, and economics. Afterwards, she also completed a Juris doctor. In 2014, Lúgaro completed a master's degree in Spanish law from the Complutense University of Madrid, where she finished her law degree.

Business

Lúgaro has been practicing law since 2006. Before the 2016 elections, she was the Executive Director of The Metropolitan New School of America and of América Aponte & Associates, a company that was founded by her mother. Both companies work diverse tutorial programs in conversational English. After the elections Lúgaro started working as Don Omar's business manager and later started her own 1 hour radio talk show named "Lúgaro Sin Miedo" which was one of her campaign slogans.

Political campaigns

On March 17, 2016, Lúgaro announced her intentions to run for Governor of Puerto Rico becoming the first person to do so independently. She was joined later in that statistic by businessman Manuel Cidre, who also decided to run independently. In her statement, Lúgaro announced an "emphasis in the areas of education and economic development" as her platform. She also highlighted her purpose of "facing off the bipartisanship that has predominated the country", which she qualified as the root of the island's current economic crisis.

Through her campaign, Lúgaro managed to mobilize significant numbers of people, but most notably young voters. At one point, David Bernier, from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) invited the supporters of Lúgaro and Cidre to vote for him. Both independent candidates rejected the offer, with Lúgaro noting how the traditional party candidates were "feeling the heat of a candidacy that threatens them". She also mentioned her support of Puerto Rican independence.

In the 2016 elections, Lúgaro received a total of 175,831 votes for an 11.13% percentage. This placed her in third place behind Governor-elect Ricky Rosselló and Bernier, but above fellow independent candidate Cidre, María de Lourdes Santiago, and Rafael Bernábe.

In 2010, Lúgaro gave birth to her daughter Valentina through In vitro fertilisation with an anonymous donor. This came as a result of her being diagnosed with severe endometriosis. Lúgaro married Edwin Domínguez in June 2011. The ceremony was held in Thailand. On December 22, 2015, she announced her divorce. In 2016 during an interview she confirmed she is an atheist.