Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón (b. Ponce, Puerto Rico; 12 November 1958) is a former

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 ...

of the municipality of

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 ...

. Marlese Sifre was appointed as Vice-Mayor which granted to be the third woman in charge.

Biography

Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón was born on 12 November 1958 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His parents were Félix Irizarry and Carmen Lydia Pabón. A graduate of the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, Irizarry Pabón was an

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

physician prior to becoming Ponce's mayor-elect in November 2020. He was also a municipal legislator in the Ponce Municipal Legislature for 12 years (2009 to 2021), and minority leader in said legislative body. Winning by a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

against Partido Nuevo Progresista incumbent mayor María Meléndez, Irizarry Pabón was scheduled to take office on 11 January 2021. He was sworn on 13 January 2021. He is a graduate of the School of Medicine of the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Ciencias Medicas.

Political

Upon completion of the 2020 Ponce municipal election vote count Irizarry Pabón had received 28,728 votes (62%) to incumbent mayor María Meléndez Altieri's 12,314 votes (26.6%). The rest of the votes cast were for MVC and PIP. Irizarry Pabón is the first mayoral candidate in the modern history of Ponce to win with more than 60% of votes cast. His 16,414 vote margin was also historic being the largest since 1996, when then-mayor Rafael Cordero Santiago had a lead of over 19,000 votes versus José Dapena Thompson. Irizarry Pabón recovered the Ponce mayoral office for his PPD party after 12 years under the control of the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP). The municipal executive was suspended from his position on November 1, 2023 after cause was found for arrest against him on four charges presented precisely by the Office of the Panel on the Special Independent Prosecutor (OPFEI), which accuse him of violations of Article 4.2 of the Government Ethics Law and Article 251 of the Penal Code, for alleged unjustified enrichment. (Source: Primera Hora, https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/gobierno-politica/notas/luis-irizarry-pabon-continuara-suspendido-al-cargo-de-alcalde-de-ponce/) In June 2004, Puerto Rico newspaper El Nuevo Dia, reported, "Suspended Ponce Mayor Luis Irizarry Pabón will face a jury trial after August for allegedly coercing municipal agency heads to pay his personal debt that amounted to more than $53,000." (Source: El Nuevo Dia)

Family and personal

As of 11 November 2020, Irizarry Pabón was 62 years old. He has four children: Alma, Luis Manuel, María Isabel, and Yaniel.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irizarry Pabon, Luis 1958 births Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Living people University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine alumni Physicians from Ponce 21st-century mayors of places in Puerto Rico 21st-century Puerto Rican physicians Mayors of Ponce, Puerto Rico