José Luis Rivera Guerra (born October 7, 1973 in

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico Mayagüez (, ) is a city and the eighth-largest municipality in Puerto Rico. It was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez, and is also known as ''La Sultana del Oeste'' (The Sultaness of the West), ''Ciudad de las Aguas Pura ...

) is a Puerto Rican politician affiliated with the New Progressive Party (PNP). He was a member of 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 ...

representing the 17th District from 2000 to 2013. He was reelected in 2016. He resigned on July 31, 2018. In 2011, Rivera Guerra was in the middle of a scandal, when it was revealed there were some irregularities regarding the registration and permits of his residence. Although the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives initially dismissed the complaint, the case caused a public uproar among local newspapers and received major media attention. As a result, Governor

Luis Fortuño Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013. Fortuño served as the first secretary of econom ...

and the PNP referred the case to the

Department of Justice of Puerto Rico The Puerto Rico Department of Justice (PR DOJ) is the Executive Department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico responsible for the enforcement of the local law in the commonwealth and the administration of justice. The Department is equivalent ...

, and disqualified Rivera Guerra from running in the 2012 general election. After being removed from the party, Rivera Guerra started to campaign as a

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

. He received more than seven thousand votes from the voters of Aguadilla and Moca. He was still unsuccessful to win.

Early years and studies

José Luis Rivera Guerra was born in Mayagüez on October 7, 1973. He studied on the island's public school system, graduating from the José de Diego High School on 1991. In 1997, he received 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 Chemistry, with a concentration in Mathematics from the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a public land-grant university in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. UPRM ...

. He then passed the licensing exam to be a chemist.

Professional career

Rivera Guerra served in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

for eight years. Professionally, he has worked as a chemist with

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

and as a Science teacher at the Liceo Aguadillano. He also directed the

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

program for

Aguadilla Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is s ...

Political career

Rivera Guerra was first elected to the

at the

2000 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2000. Africa * 2000 Ethiopian general election * 2000 Ghanaian presidential election * 1999–2000 Guinea-Bissau general election * 2000–01 Ivorian parliamentary election * 2000 Ivorian presiden ...

becoming the youngest legislator elected in the history of that district. He was elected to represent

District 17 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

. During his first term, he was one of the PNP members involved in a controversial riot at the Office of Women Affairs, which resulted in the detainment of several party leaders. In 2003, Rivera Guerra won the primaries of his party and was again reelected at the general elections in 2004. That same year, he had to be expelled from a session after an aggressive outburst in which he broke a glass desk by hitting it. For the 2008 PNP primaries, Rivera Guerra became a close ally of candidate

Luis G. Fortuño Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

when he ran against former Governor and PNP president

Pedro Rosselló Pedro Juan Rosselló González, (; born April 5, 1944) is a Puerto Rican physician and politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1993 to 2001. He was President of the New Progressive Party from 1991 to 1999 and 2003 to 2008, a ...

. Rivera Guerra ran against Ernesto "Junior" Robledo and two other candidates in his district. Both Fortuño and Rivera Guerra prevailed in the primaries and in 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 ( ...

. He is running for mayor in the city of

as an independent candidate in 2020.

Public scandal

At the end of 2011, Ernesto "Junior" Robledo presented various complaints against Rivera Guerra claiming irregularities in properly registering his residence with the Property Tax Collection Center (CRIM), the

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; Spanish: ''LUMA'', ''AEE'') was an electric power company owned by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico responsible for electricity generation, power distribution, and power transmission on the island. ...

(PREPA) and the

Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority The Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA; Spanish: ''Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico'') is a water company and the government-owned corporation responsible for water quality, management, and supply in Puert ...

(PRASA). Rivera Guerra denied the allegations and Governor

defended him. Although initially, the House Ethics Committee had dismissed the issue, some irregularities and contradictions on the versions arose. As a result, Speaker

Jenniffer González Jenniffer Aydin González Colón (born August 5, 1976) is a Puerto Rican politician who serves as the 20th Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. González has served in leadership positions in the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (PNP) and in ...

evaluated the case individually and decided to send it back to the Ethics Committee. The scandal caused a public uproar among the people and the case received major media attention. On January 23, 2012, the House Ethics Committee determined that Rivera Guerra had committed no crime, but recommended that he be disciplined with a 10-day suspension due to his negligence in the issues regarding his properties. Again, this caused indignation among the people in the island, who made public manifestations against the decision. Minutes after the Ethics Committee made his decision, Governor Fortuño sent Rivera Guerra's case to the Department of Justice and said he would be evaluating his candidacy for the upcoming elections. On February 18, 2012, the Board of Directors of the PNP voted to disqualify Rivera Guerra from participating in the upcoming primaries. Still, Rivera Guerra campaigned as a

for the elections, but was unsuccessful. On November 30, 2012, a court issued a warrant for the arrest of Rivera Guerra. The charges were construction of a pool without informing it to the Ethics Office, and living in his residence without the proper permits. On July 11, 2013, Rivera Guerra was sentenced to 40 days of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

, and was ordered to pay multiple fines that totaled $2,900.

Personal life

Rivera Guerra is married and has three children. He is an avid athlete, dedicating himself to

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

and

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

. In March 2011 he suffered major injuries that kept him away from attending House sessions for several weeks when he was run over by a car while he was riding a bicycle and exercising.

References

External links

José Luis Rivera Guerra
on CamaraDeRepresentantes.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera Guerra, Jose Luis 1973 births Living people New Progressive Party members of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico United States Army reservists