[3][2] He was 23 when he was first elected mayor, having been prompted to run by negative local events such as the closing of his town's only school in 1974.
[4] The town also accommodated a children's home that had been rejected by other municipalities, as well as public housing to prevent the emigration of young people.
[5][2] Rivera is not paid for his role as mayor, instead working as a civil servant and as a secretary in four nearby town councils.
[6] Rivera was one of 31 mayors to retain their post for the first 40 years of democracy in local elections in Spain.
He and another mayor in the Community of Madrid, Luis Partida of Villanueva de la Cañada, retained an absolute majority in that time.