José Aponte Hernández

Jose Fernando Aponte Hernández (born January 19, 1958) is an accountant and former Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. He was born in San Juan and obtained a bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras in 1980.

Aponte is married to Aida I. Rodríguez Roig, and has two sons and one daughter. He currently resides in San Lorenzo. He was the New Progressive Party (PNP) General Secretary during the Rossello administration. One of his older brothers, Néstor, is a state appellate judge, while another, Jorge, was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Rosselló administration.

He served as Secretary-General of the New Progressive Party from 1996 to 1997 (acting) and 1997 to 1999.[1]

Aponte was appointed to fill the vacancy left by his brother Néstor Aponte Hernández, as Representative from the 33rd District, after he resigned to become an Appellate Court Judge. Aponte was elected for a full term as Representative in the 2000 general elections, and was re-elected as an At-Large Representative in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. After the New Progressive Party elected 32 members of the 51-seat House of Representatives in the 2004 general elections, Aponte was elected the 28th Speaker of the House on January 10. He is also a member of the Puerto Rico Republican Party. He was defeated in his bid for re-election for Speaker by the new 37-member majority New Progressive Party caucus, which elected then Government Affairs Committee Chairwoman, Jenniffer A. González Colón.

Aponte has maintained a sense of stewardship toward Puerto Ricos's statehood quest. In that respect, his most recent remarks affirm satisfaction with the pro-statehood legislative process,[2] stating "I think it is extraordinarily good that a decision to roll this process is finally taking place at the House of Representatives".[3] During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Aponte spoke out against retailers who were operating game machines in their establishments, explaining that if the casinos were not allowed to operate during the pandemic neither should these smaller establishments.[4]