political_party: Puerto Rican Independence Party

Biography

Denis Márquez Lebron, a native of Gurabo, is the youngest of four siblings. He grew up in the Celada neighborhood of that town where he studied in public schools until he was admitted to the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus in 1981. There he began his activism in the PIP Youth, motivated by his first contact with the independence organization in his town’s committee. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences with a concentration in Labor Relations, he pursued graduate studies in Public Administration. In 1992, he graduated magna cum laude from the Interamerican University School of Law, where he founded the Law Student Cooperative.

He worked as a professor at the Polytechnic University from 1987 to 1992 and as a professor of commercial law, civil law, and social sciences courses from 1999 to 2011 at various universities in the country. He served as an advisor to the legislative delegation of the Puerto Rican Independence Party from 1993 to 1996, and then, together with his friend and fellow PIP advisor, José Torres Valentín, he began his private practice. As a labor lawyer, he has represented several union organizations, and his former office assisted in the legal representation of special education children in Rosa Lydia Vélez’s class action lawsuit. In 2008-2009, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Legal Services of Puerto Rico, an organization that provides legal assistance to people without resources in civil cases. He has also served as an observer for the Bar Association and held various positions in community and recreational organizations.

He has held the following positions within the PIP: municipal legislator and president of the Gurabo Committee, Electoral Commissioner of Precinct 2 of San Juan, chaired the Evaluation Commission after the 2008 elections, and Secretary of Political Education. Along with other lawyers, he represented the PIP in the “files case,” achieving an important judicial victory in which, for the first time in our jurisdiction, the cause of action for discrimination against a political institution was recognized. He has also been a lawyer for the PIP in many other instances.

His experience as a lawyer has strengthened Denis’s particular interest and detailed knowledge of public employment and the merit principle, workers’ rights, special education and access to justice, health care, and human rights.

Author of the book of essays “From Celada to San Juan” (2013).

He is currently the Secretary of Political Organization and Spokesperson for the PIP in the House of Representatives after being elected as a representative at large in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.