Denis Márquez

A native of Gurabo, Denis Márquez Lebrón was the youngest of four siblings. He grew up in the town's Celada neighborhood and attended public schools until 1981, when he was admitted to the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras. He began his political activism with the PIP youth branch after an initial contact with the independence movement at his town's local committee. Following his undergraduate studies in Social Sciences with a focus on Labor Relations, he pursued graduate studies in Public Administration. In 1992, he graduated magna cum laude from the Escuela de Derecho de la Universidad Interamericana, where he founded the Law Students Cooperative. He worked as a professor at the Universidad Politécnica from 1987 to 1992 and taught courses in Commercial Law, Civil Law, and Social Sciences between 1999 and 2011 at various universities. He served as an advisor to the Puerto Rican Independence Party legislative delegation from 1993 to 1996 before entering private practice. As a labor attorney, he has represented several labor unions, and his former office collaborated in the legal representation of special education students in the Rosa Lydia Vélez class action lawsuit. Between 2008 and 2009, he served on the Board of Directors of Servicios Legales de Puerto Rico. He has also acted as an observer for the Colegio de Abogados and held various positions in community and recreational organizations. Within the Puerto Rican Independence Party, he has served as a municipal legislator, president of the Gurabo Committee, Electoral Commissioner for San Juan Precinct 2, president of the Evaluation Commission after the 2008 elections, and Secretary of Political Education. Alongside other attorneys, he represented the party in the "case of the folders," achieving a judicial victory that recognized, for the first time in the jurisdiction, a cause of action for discrimination against a political institution. He is the author of the essay collection "De Celada a San Juan" (2013). Currently, he serves as the Secretary of Political Organization and spokesperson for the Puerto Rican Independence Party in the House of Representatives, having been elected as an at-large representative in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.