Summary
Name:
José RiveraYears Active:
1986Status:
ReleasedClass:
Mass MurdererVictims:
98Method:
ArsonNationality:
USASummary: Mass Murderer
Name:
José RiveraStatus:
ReleasedVictims:
98Method:
ArsonNationality:
USAYears Active:
1986José Francisco Rivera López, often called José Rivera, was 40 years old in April 1987.
He worked at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The hotel had about 450 employees.
Rivera was a member of Local 901 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. That union represented about 250 of the hotel's 450 employees.
Negotiations between hotel management and the union began in October 1986. The dispute included concerns that management planned to terminate some union members and replace them with non-union workers.
On December 31, 1986, the union held a meeting in the hotel's ballroom. At that meeting, the members present voted to begin a strike at midnight.
On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1986, three disgruntled employees of the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, intentionally set a fire during a labor dispute. The employees were Héctor Escudero Aponte, Armando Jiménez Rivera, and José Francisco Rivera López.
The fire killed between 96 and 98 people and injured about 140 others. It was the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history and the second deadliest hotel fire in U.S. territory.
Many guests were in the casino and lobby when the fire spread. Emergency exits in the casino area were lacking or locked, and many people could not get out. Some people reached the roof and were rescued by helicopters.
The Puerto Rico Fire Department and many other agencies responded. Firefighters extinguished the flames about three hours after they were dispatched, but smoke and emergency work continued through the night.
A U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation found 25 safety violations at the hotel, including the lack of emergency exit doors in the casino area. The case led to many lawsuits. About 2,300 plaintiffs filed 264 separate suits against 230 defendants. Payments for deaths and injuries eventually totaled more than $210 million.
In April 1987, Escudero, Jiménez, and José Francisco Rivera López pleaded guilty to setting the fire. The judge sentenced Escudero Aponte and Rivera López to 99 years in prison and Jiménez Rivera to 75 years. Jiménez Rivera was released in 2001, Rivera López was released in 2002, and Escudero Aponte was released in 2017.
The disaster helped prompt changes in hotel fire safety rules. In 1990, the United States passed the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act, which required smoke detectors in guest rooms and sprinklers in buildings with more than three stories for places that host federal employees or activities. The Dupont Plaza Hotel reopened after renovation in 1995 as the San Juan Marriott Resort & Casino.
