Jesús Rivera Sánchez (born in

Coamo, Puerto Rico Coamo (, ) is a town and municipality founded in 1579 in the south-central region of Puerto Rico, located north of Santa Isabel; south of Orocovis and Barranquitas; east of Villalba and Juana Díaz; and west of Aibonito and Salinas. The ...

) is a Puerto Rican government official who served as the Secretary of the

Puerto Rico Department of Education The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of five jurisdiction-wide public education systems in the United States, with Hawaii, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa being the others. The PRDOE is the state education ...

from 2010 to 2011.

Career

Rivera Sánchez was appointed on September 15, 2010 after protests by the general student body of Puerto Rico who are seeking remedies to the socioeconomic crisis faced by their institution, and two months of constant debate between the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of 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 the legislative branch of ...

and

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. In September 2011, it was revealed that Rivera Sánchez was under investigation from the

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

for alleged electricity theft. Although Rivera Sánchez denied the allegations, reports from the authority reflected irregularities in his electricity counter dating back to 2003. At the same time, Rivera Sánchez faced accusations of

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

after it was revealed that several of his relatives were promoted during his tenure. As a result, members of the Popular Democratic Party asked for his resignation. Rivera Sánchez initially denied that he would resign from his position. On October 23, 2011, a fire was reported inside the house of Rivera Sánchez. As a result, he decided to resign to his position on the same day. Days after the fire, investigators revealed there were irregularities in the testimonies regarding the nature of the fire. Rivera Sánchez has been questioned about it in several occasions and the investigation is still pending.

References

External links

Puerto Rico Department of Education
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera Sanchez, Jesus 1970 births Puerto Rican educators Living people Secretaries of Education of Puerto Rico Members of the 15th Cabinet of Puerto Rico People from Coamo, Puerto Rico