Roberto Vigoreaux
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Roberto Vigoreaux Lorenzana (born January 12, 1956) is a Puerto Rican media personality. He is a former senator, television producer, actor, singer, marketing executive, telecommunications technician and ice cream entrepreneur. He is the son of Luis Vigoreaux, and the younger brother of Luisito Vigoreaux. He also has two half sisters: Vanessa and Glendalys Vigoreaux.
Vigoreaux and his brother had to endure tragedy at a young age. After their father divorced their mother and married Lydia Echevarría, their mother died of a disease which she had long suffered. In 1983, tragedy struck again when their father was found dead inside the trunk of his car. Since Luis Vigoreaux had been dating aspiring model Nydia Castillo for some time before his death, Lydia Echevarría became the logical suspect for the crime and was later convicted.
Roberto and Luisito Vigoreaux began to host a television show in Puerto Rico's WAPA-TV called Parejo, Doble y Triple (Square, Double and Triple) in 1984. This show made them well known across the island. Soon after, Roberto started hosting the popular Saturday night game show Sábado en Grande, once again alongside brother Luisito, where Roberto lasted for a few years as co-host.
In 1993, Roberto Vigoreaux retired from show business and began to pursue a career as a politician, while doing some side stints as an entrepreneur. The best known of these stints was opening an ice cream parlor in Isla Verde, the tourist district of Carolina, Puerto Rico. Roberto made news when his business was first robbed, then burned down because of an electrical wiring fire. He took both incidents in stride, with a healthy dose of humor.
During the middle 1990s, then Governor Pedro Rosselló offered to parole Echevarría based on her failing health. The Vigoreaux brothers opposed, but Rosselló still paroled her. There have also been rumors that the Vigoreaux brothers and their half-sisters have not enjoyed a good relationship, but they have denied these facts, going so far as to publish pictures taken together during their gatherings.
Roberto Vigoreaux was elected in 2000 as a senator, after running for that position as a PPD candidate. He announced his interest in running for mayor of the city of San Juan during the elections of 2004, but was persuaded not to run by the party's machinery.
As his brother Luisito, Roberto is known for self-deprecating sense of humor. Given Roberto's somewhat erratic career trajectory, between the time he was unemployed after being a senator and his return to television, Sunshine Logroño did a comedy sketch in his radio comedy program, "Agitando-El Show", called "El Robertito Job Watch". In it, Logroño's alter ego, Eleuterio Quiñones called Roberto daily to inquire about his job status, on the air.
