[1][2] Fernández Juncos met Dr. José Gualberto Padilla, a poet known as "El Caribe" who inspired him towards a literary vocation.

Among his most notable works were: Tipos y Caracteres, Libro Cuarto de Lectura, and Canciones Escolares (which he co-wrote with Virgilio Dávila and Braulio Dueño Colon).

Shortly after, when Puerto Rico was granted its autonomy from Spain, Fernández Juncos was elected and became the first Secretary of State.

[3] Fernández Juncos wrote the current lyrics to "La Borinqueña", which originally was a danza written by Francisco Ramírez in 1860 (sometimes credited to Félix Astol Artés in 1867).

A public contest to provide new lyrics to the tune was held in 1903, with Fernández Juncos as its winner (this explains why the Asturias native is credited for writing the lines "The land of Borinquen / where I was born").

Un cielo siempre nítido le sirve de dosel y dan arrullos plácidos las olas a sus pies.

Cuando a sus playas llegó Colón Exclamó lleno de admiración: "Oh!, oh!, oh!, esta es la linda tierra que busco yo".

The government of Puerto Rico has honored his memory by naming three schools in the cities of Mayagüez,[4] Juana Diaz,[5] and Cabo Rojo[6] and a commercial avenue in San Juan after him.