José Joaquin Dapena Thompson (born c. 1938), known as Josito, was a Puerto Rican

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

from 22 February 1984 to 1988.

Schooling

Dapena graduated from the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

, Spain, in 1965. He practiced law in the island until he got involved in

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

. In 1984, he defeated the candidate from the PPD by a narrow margin for the position of Mayor of Ponce,

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 ...

Mayoral term

Dapena Thompson became mayor of Ponce on 22 February 1984 upon the resignation as mayor of Jose G. Tormos Vega on that day. Later, in October of that year, he became ''bona fide'' mayor via the electoral vote. In the interim, Ruben Quinones, the Ponce Municipal Secretary, was the acting mayor. He was mayor until Ivan Ayala Cadiz assumed the mayoral post in December 1987 via nomination of the New Progressive Party. Ayala Cadiz was mayor until January 1989.

Resignation

In 1988, Dapena Thompson was "named an unindicted co-conspirator" of

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

of federal funds from HUD. As a result, he resigned as mayor. Ivan Ayala Cadiz, former assistant dean at the

Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law is the law school of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, a private Catholic university with its main campus in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was established in 1961. Histo ...

, finished off Dapena Thompson's last few weeks' mayoral term.

Today

Dapena Thompson lived in Ponce and worked with his grandson,David Antonio, as

of counsel Of counsel is the title of an attorney in the legal profession of the United States who often has a relationship with a law firm or an organization but is neither an associate nor partner. Some firms use titles such as "counsel", "special couns ...

and

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

. He has also served as legal advisor to senator

Larry Seilhamer Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boon ...

Schooling

Mayoral term

Resignation

Today

See also

References

Further reading