Three competing accounts claim credit: the Caribe Hilton Hotel says Ramon 'Monchito' Marrero created it in 1954; a Spaniard named Ricardo Garcia also claims to have invented it in 1953 while working at the same hotel; and the Barrachina restaurant credits bartender Ramon Portas Mingot with creating it in 1963. No single account is universally accepted.
What would resolve this A contemporary receipt, menu, newspaper mention or other primary record from 1953 to 1963 naming the drink at one specific San Juan establishment, rather than the competing later-recounted claims, would settle which bartender's account is accurate.
OpenCulinary history / hospitality-industry archival researchPina Colada (Wikipedia)