Rafe Rivera

Raphael "Rafe" Joseph Rivera is a fictional character on CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light. He was portrayed by E.J. Bonilla from May 18, 2007 until the show's conclusion.

Character's background

Rafael "Rafe" Rivera first appeared in Springfield shortly following the arrival of his mother, Natalia. After mugging Josh Lewis, he was placed in a juvenile detention center, where he met Susan LeMay (known as Daisy to everyone in town), and he began to play a role in the resurgence of Gus Aitoro's past. It has been revealed that he is the son of Gus Aitoro.

After his release from juvenile hall, Rafe moved in with Gus and Harley. After finding a needle in his bag, Harley confronted Rafe, believing him to be under the influence of drugs. It was discovered, however, that Rafe is a diabetic. Rafe moved out of Harley's home after the truth about his relationship with Daisy was revealed. He was residing in the Spaulding Mansion with his parents Gus and Natalia. Gus built them a house to live in as a family, but Gus was killed just before moving in. Olivia Spencer was in dire need a heart transplant and when Gus died Natalia (Rafe's mother) made the painful decision to give Gus's heart to Olivia. We later learn that a young driver hit Gus in an accident that proved to be fatal. Natalia wanted the courts to go easy on him since Gus was speeding on his way to be with Olivia in the hospital as she was very weak. The young boy was let off easy which frustrated many of the people that knew Gus for he was a well loved character and will be missed. Later, Gus's old partner (Gus was a cop) Mallet (Harley's ex) was digging around and some stuff came up about Gus's case files. It turns out Gus was transferring money so that Olivia could be up higher on the donor list. Mallet told Rafe that his dad might be a dirty cop. Mallet didn't know the full story about why Gus was transferring money. Rafe who had only known his dad for a little while as a well-respected man was upset by this and the day of the press conference to talk about Gus, Rafe took his dad's gun and shot the district attorney, Jeffrey O'Neill. What Rafe didn't know was that Jeffery knew that his dad was trying to help Olivia and that he was not going to mention anything about the missing money and Gus, he was going to if anything raise Gus on a pedestal. Mallet jumped to conclusions and so Rafe defended his dad's honor. Rafe, realizing what he had done fled. He went to Daisy who then went to her mom. Rafe said good bye to his mom and Harley and Rafe fled the country for Rafe's safety, because she would do anything for Gus's son (Gus was exposed to something while working for the FBI and couldn't have children anymore) Rafe returned to Springfield and was sentenced to two years in prison with chance of parole. Jeffery woke up and encouraged the courts to go easy on him because he didn't know the whole story and was defending his dad's honor. He was paroled early, then spent several weeks in a halfway house. He had a hard time adjusting to life outside of prison, and is upset by his mother's romantic relationship with Olivia. He later joins the army and returns for the show's finale.