Carmen Rivera de Alvarado

Carmen Rivera de Alvarado (30 June 1910 – 23 July 1973) was a Puerto Rican social worker, educator, socialist and independence activist.

Biography Alvarado was born on 30 June 1910 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.

Alvarado graduated from the Central High School of Santurce and went on to University of Puerto Rico Normal school in 1930, earning the Carlota Metienzo Award. After graduating, she became one of the first twenty-eight social workers in Puerto Rico. During her early social work career, Alvarado worked as Executive Secretary of the Puerto Rico Maternal Health Association and as Supervisor of Medical-Social Work for the Puerto Rico Department of Health.

In 1931, Alvarado married Julián Antonio Alvarado.

Alvarada studied a master's degree at the Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in 1944.

Alvarada was a socialist and independence activist. She was the a founder member of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) in 1946 and was Secretary of Women's Action of the Puerto Rico Pro Independence Movement (MPI). She was also a founder member of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Her book Struggle and Vision of a Free Puerto Rico was published posthumously in 1986.

Alvarado died on 23 July 1973 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, aged 63. She was buried at the Old Vega Baja Municipal Cemetery in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.