Summary
Name:
Armando JiménezYears Active:
1986Status:
ReleasedClass:
Mass MurdererVictims:
98Method:
ArsonNationality:
USASummary: Mass Murderer
Name:
Armando JiménezStatus:
ReleasedVictims:
98Method:
ArsonNationality:
USAYears Active:
1986Armando Jiménez Rivera was a hotel worker in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He worked at the Dupont Plaza Hotel, which later became the San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino. In April 1987 he was 29 years old.
He was a member of Local 901 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. That union represented about 250 of the hotel's roughly 450 employees. Negotiations between the union and hotel management began in October 1986.
On December 31, 1986, a fire took place at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The fire killed between 96 and 98 people and injured about 140 others. It is the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history and the second deadliest hotel fire in U.S. territory history.
Three employees of the hotel who were involved in a labor dispute later pleaded guilty in April 1987. Their names were Héctor Escudero Aponte; José Francisco Rivera López; and Armando Jiménez Rivera, who is also reported in some sources as Arnaldo Jiménez Rivera. The three men were convicted of murder.
A judge sentenced Escudero Aponte and Rivera López to 99 years in prison and Jiménez Rivera to 75 years. Jiménez Rivera and Rivera López were released from federal prison in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Escudero Aponte was released in 2017.
Federal and local investigations followed the disaster. OSHA found 25 safety violations at the hotel, including problems with emergency exits in the casino area. Many victims were trapped in the casino, and the majority of the dead were found there.
Thousands of victims and their families filed lawsuits. About 2,300 plaintiffs filed 264 separate suits against about 230 defendants. Settlements and verdicts across the cases totaled more than $210 million. AIG later acquired the hotel as part of the claims settlement and renovated it. The building reopened in 1995 as the San Juan Marriott Resort & Casino.
The disaster helped prompt changes in hotel safety rules. In 1990, the United States passed the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act, which set smoke detector and sprinkler requirements for hotels that serve federal travelers or host federal activities.
