In 1982, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras.

[4][5] Acevedo Vilá began his political career in 1989 as Legislative Affairs Advisor to Governor Rafael Hernández Colón.

In 1993, he was an active member of the PPD campaign in favor of the current commonwealth status for the plebiscite held in the island on 14 November 1993.

Acevedo Vilá and his party believed the definition of the commonwealth option was incorrect because it defined the current political status as territorial.

In 1999, Acevedo Vilá became vice-president of the PPD, as the current mayor of San Juan, Sila Calderón assumed the presidency and became the candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico.

Among the legislative measures helmed by Acevedo were the assignment of equal funds for education and the Medicare program in Puerto Rico.

During the period, Rosselló filed a civil lawsuit against Acevedo Vilá himself over a dispute of certain ballots that were cast during the elections.

Many melones voted for Governor Anibal Acevedo Vilá because they did not want the statehood candidate to win the tight race.

Acevedo-Vilá and his team challenged this ruling and the case moved up to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, where three judges ruled the question of whether or not the ballots were properly cast was not a federal constitutional issue and therefore should be decided by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico at the Commonwealth level.

During his term, he faced many political challenges, due to the fact that the main opposing party, New Progressive Party (NPP) gained control of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the Resident Commissioner in Congress (Luis Fortuño), and Acevedo Vilá's main political rival, Pedro Rosselló (former Governor or Puerto Rico who had just lost the election against Acevedo), managed to gain a seat in the Senate of Puerto Rico after a young first-term Senator from Arecibo unexpectedly resigned shortly after taking the oath of office, and unsuccessfully attempted to topple Senate President Kenneth McClintock.

During the first months of his term, Acevedo Vilá concentrated his efforts on trying to reach bipartisan support for his bills and for the nominees of his Cabinet.

However, this collapsed when Acevedo Vilá vetoed a legislative bill proposed by the NPP, although all members of his Cabinet, but one, were confirmed by the Senate.

New tensions surfaced during April 2006, when Acevedo Vilá announced the central government of Puerto Rico did not have enough funds to pay the salary of public employees for the months of May and June.

Acevedo Vilá then announced that most of the government agencies would shut down beginning 1 May, and would remain closed unless the House approved the new loan.

However, Acevedo Vilá decided to run for reelection, and was openly endorsed by the party in a massive rally held at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum.

Sometime after, he chose the president of the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank Alfredo Salazar as his running mate for the position of Resident Commissioner.

The final rally of the Popular Democratic Party campaign looked like a massive gathering at the parking lot of one of the stations of the Tren Urbano as reported by press.

[12] During the period of September–October 2006, several news sources reported that a federal grand jury was investigating donations made to the Acevedo Vilá campaign fund during 2001 and 2002 by the aforementioned contractor and a Puerto Rico-based associate.

News sources indicated that the donations made by the duo to the Acevedo Vilá campaign fund during that period could total $68,000.

In the succeeding months, several key members of Acevedo Vilá's Cabinet were either interviewed by the FBI or called to testify before the Grand Jury investigating the Governor, including Fortaleza Chief of Staff and former Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Jorge Silva Puras, Press Secretary Juanita Colombani, former Housing Secretary Ileana Echegoyen, former Health Services Administrator Nancy Vega, and former Fortaleza Chief of Staff Aníbal José Torres.

Throughout the investigation and indictment process, Acevedo Vilá stated repeatedly that he was innocent, and claimed that everything was politically motivated to harm his career.

On 1 December 2008, Judge Paul Barbadoro dismissed 15 of the original 19 charges citing misinterpretation of Puerto Rican election laws by the federal prosecutors.

They are the parents of two young adults, one a Harvard graduate and a UPR-educated school teacher, and live in San Juan, where he currently practices law and has authored several books related to his political career and years in public service.