Carlos Alberto Díaz Sánchez (born February 6, 1970, in San Juan,

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

) is a Puerto Rican politician, and former member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Early years and studies

Carlos Díaz was born on February 6, 1970, in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

. He was raised by single mother Lydia Sánchez Bermúdez, along with her sister Ann Lee, at Las Gladiolas Housing Project in Hato Rey. He studied at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

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. Being a practicing Mormon, Díaz did missionary work in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

in 1992.

Political career

Representative: 1996-2000

Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Díaz was elected to fill a vacancy at the Puerto Rico House of Representatives for District 5. At the 1996 general elections, he was officially elected as a Representative for the same district. At the age of 25 he was the youngest legislator in Puerto Rico's history. He ran again at the 2000 general election, but lost to the candidate of the opposing party.

Senator: 2004-2008

Díaz returned to the political stage in 2004, when he presented his candidacy to the Senate of Puerto Rico, representing the District of San Juan. At the 2004 general elections, he was elected as one of San Juan's two district senators, along with running-mate Roberto Arango. As a New Progressive Party (NPP) senator, Díaz presided two standing committees and one select committee of the Senate. Díaz was one of six members of the PNP party who chose not to support the recently defeated governor candidate, Pedro Rosselló, in his attempt to overtake the Senate's presidency from elected Senator Kenneth McClintock. For their loyalty, they became known as "Los Auténticos", which caused them to be expelled from the party. In 2008, the court agreed that Díaz and the other senators had been expelled from the party illegally and they were to be reinstated to their full capacity, as District Presidents, Delegates to the party or any other function they had inside the party. The decision also established that they could run for reelection for their party. However, before his expulsion, Díaz became the center of a political scandal, when surveillance cameras of the Capitol of Puerto Rico were misused to record him. In the recording, Díaz was accompanying two ladies to the parking lot and, as they entered their car, Díaz kissed one of them on her hands and face. The video (which came to be known as Video 59) was later used to

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

Díaz into supporting Rosselló in his power struggle with McClintock. It was later revealed that the two ladies were employees of the Senate that were asking Díaz for economic help for a

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

treatment. A commission was created within the Senate to investigate the incident, but no actions were taken against the ones who ordered the recording of it. In March 2008, Díaz was defeated for re-election as San Juan district Senator in the primaries of his party.

Recent years

In 2009, Díaz was one of the possible candidates to fill the vacancy left by former senator Jorge de Castro Font, who resigned to his chair after being convicted by federal authorities. Díaz, however, declined the possibility. He partially retired from the political arena and is currently working in the private sector as an adviser on medical and hospital services. In 2010, Secretary of Justice, Guillermo Somoza recommended an investigation on Díaz, claiming there was evidence on

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and corruption. On December of that year, the Special Independent Prosecutor assigned to the case decided there was insufficient evidence of the allegations and did not press charges against the former senator. In March 2011, Díaz said in an interview that he would consider returning to politics. He also said that he could do it under the Popular Democratic Party stating that it was irrelevant because "the people are tired of parties... they want unity". Later that year, it was announced that Díaz was serving as adviser to thoracic surgeon Dr. Iván González Cancel, who was aspiring to run against Governor Foretuño in NPP primaries for

Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico () is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. Elected to a 4 year-term through popular vote by the residents of the archipelago and island, ...

, before his candidacy was decertified by the NPP Directorate, a decision that has been appealed in federal district court. Díaz is now running in the NPP March 16, 2012, primaries for state representative in San Juan's House district 4. In October 2023, Díaz Sánchez returned to the political scene by officially joining in the Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico, in which he ran for senator by accumulation. In March 2024, Carlos Díaz Sánchez sent Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Education for an alleged political campaign financing scheme with public funds from education money in Puerto Rico.Refieren a Pedro Pierluisi a las autoridades federales por presunto discrimen y uso de fondos de Educación para su campaña política
on ''El Nuevo Dia''; David Cordero Mercado (March 24, 2024)

Personal life

References

External links

Carlos Díaz
on SenadoPR (through

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Carlos 1970 births Living people New Progressive Party members of the Senate of Puerto Rico Brigham Young University alumni American Mormon missionaries in Guatemala Puerto Rican Latter Day Saints Puerto Rican Mormon missionaries 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico