Background
Jaime Rafael Perelló Borrás was born on September 14, 1973 in San Juan.
Jaime Rafael Perelló Borrás was born on September 14, 1973 in San Juan.
He studied at the Santa Teresita Academy in Santurce where he was secretary of his class in 1992. Perelló then studied at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico where he obtained a Bachelor"s degree in Political Science in 1998. In 2005, Perelló completed his Master"s degree in Education with a Major in Public Administration from Cambridge College in Boston, Massachusetts.
Perelló is affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico and the Democratic Party of the United States. Perelló also licensed himself to work as an insurance agent, which he did, even opening his own insurance firm. In 2000, Perelló was appointed by José Aponte de la Torre, then Mayor of Carolina, as adviser for the Health Reform.
Concerned for the health crisis caused by the Navy bombardments in Vieques, Perelló and Aponte founded the Corporation Salud para Vieques, where he served as part of the Board of Directors.
The next year, Aponte asked him to work as Special Aide in charge of Affairs with Central and Federal Government, as well as serving as liaison with other mayors from Puerto Rico and the United States. In 2003, he was one of the arrested people for performing civil disobedience on Vieques, serving 30 days in a federal prison (see United States Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico).
In 2005, Perelló worked for the campaign of Fernando Ferrer, first Puerto Rican to aspire to be Mayor of New York City. In August 2007, Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá appointed him as adviser in Municipal Affairs, in charge of implementing public policies from the central administration in all the municipalities of the island.
Later that year, he was elected to his first term in the House at the general elections.
Then the representatives of majority chose Perelló as Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives.
Perelló presented his candidacy for the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, winning a slot at the primaries of his party in 2008.