Jaime R. Perelló Borrás (born September 14, 1973) is a Puerto Rican

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. Perelló is affiliated with the

Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico The Popular Democratic Party ( es, Partido Popular Democrático, PPD) is a political party in Puerto Rico that advocates to continue as a Commonwealth of the United States with self-governance. The party was founded in 1938 by dissidents from the ...

and the

Democratic Party of the United States The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andre ...

. He was the 30th

Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico The President of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico —commonly called the Speaker of the House ( es, Presidente de la Cámara de Representantes)— is the highest-ranking officer and the presiding officer of the House of Representatives ...

Early years and studies

Jaime Rafael Perelló Borrás was born on September 14, 1973 in San Juan. He studied at the Santa Teresita Academy in Santurce where he was secretary of his class in 1992. Perelló then studied at the

Interamerican University of Puerto Rico The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has c ...

where he obtained a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Political Science in 1998. Perelló worked as a licensed insurance agent and opened his own insurance firm. In 2005, Perelló completed his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Education with a major in Public Administration from

Cambridge College Cambridge College is a private college based in Boston, Massachusetts. It also operates regional centers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and Rancho Cucamonga, California. History Founding Cam ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. He also studied English as a foreign language at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in Washington D.C.

Political career

In 2000, Perelló was appointed by

José Aponte de la Torre José Ernesto Aponte de la Torre (December 5, 1941 – May 5, 2007) was a Puerto Rican politician, and was the mayor of Carolina, Puerto Rico for 22 years. Biography Aponte de la Torre was born and raised in Cayey, Puerto Rico in 1941. He was ...

, then Mayor of Carolina, as adviser for health reform. Concerned for the health crisis caused by the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

bombardments in

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, ...

, Perelló and Aponte founded the Corporation Salud para Vieques, where he served as part of the Board of Directors. The next year, Aponte asked him to work as special aide in charge of federal government affairs as well as serving as a liaison with mayors from Puerto Rico and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 2003, he was arrested people for performing

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

on Vieques, serving 30 days in a federal prison (see

United States Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico The Vieques, Puerto Rico, Naval Training Range was a United States naval facility located on the island of Vieques, about 5 miles east of mainland Puerto Rico. Starting in November 1941, the navy used the range for military exercises. Military o ...

). In 2000 and 2004, Perelló ran for a District Representative's seat and lost against Epi Jimenez, Jr. for the 40th district of Carolina. In 2005, Perelló worked for the campaign of

Fernando Ferrer Fernando James Ferrer (born April 30, 1950) is an American politician who was the borough president of The Bronx from 1987 to 2001. Ferrer was a candidate for mayor of New York City in 1997 and 2001 and was the Democratic Party nominee for may ...

, the first Puerto Rican to aspire to be Mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In August 2007, Governor

Aníbal Acevedo Vilá Aníbal Salvador Acevedo Vilá (born 13 February 1962) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer. He served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2009. He is a Harvard University alumnus (LL.M. 1987) and a graduate of the University of Puer ...

appointed him as an adviser for municipal affairs. Perelló ran once again for the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Senat ...

, winning a slot in the primaries of his party in 2008. Later that year, he was elected to his first term in the House at the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

.Elecciones Generales 2008
on CEEPUR In 2012, Perelló led the team of candidates for representatives of the Popular Democratic Party to achieve a majority in the House of Representative of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. In November 2012, revalidated to a second term as Representative

at-Large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

and the Popular Democratic Party won the majority in

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control th ...

and the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

. Then the representatives of majority chose Perelló as Speaker of the

Personal life

Perelló is married and has three children. In 2007, he received the Missión Accomplishment Award from

for his work in the public service.

Notes

References

External links

Jaime Perelló
on www.tucamarapr.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Perello Borras, Jaime R. 1973 births Cambridge College alumni Interamerican University of Puerto Rico alumni Living people Politicians from San Juan, Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party members of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Speakers of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico