Rivero Méndez was a Captain in the Spanish Army during the Spanish–American War and is credited with ordering the first shot against the United States in Puerto Rico in said conflict.

[4] Rivero received his education at the "Colegio de Jesuitas" in Santurce (a section of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico).

Rivero Méndez also founded a newspaper called La Integridad Nacional (The National Integrity), a political paper which represented the views of the party.

When the United States declared war against Spain, the U.S. Navy sent USS Yale to form a blockade in San Juan Bay.

For his actions, he was awarded the "Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Militar 1ra Clase con Distintivo Rojo" (The Cross of the Order of the Military Merit first class).

The residents of San Juan were furious with Rivero Méndez and blamed him for the destruction caused to their city by the responding bombardments, however nothing came of those accusations.

[citation needed] On August 1, USS Puritan under the command of Captain Frederic W. Rodgers, was sailing by the coastline of the city of Fajardo, when Rogers noticed the "Faro de Las Cabezas de San Juan" (Cape San Juan lighthouse) which was supposed to be the landing site for the US Army in Puerto Rico.

Rodgers ordered some of his men ashore, which included Puerto Rican volunteers, with the mission of posting the American Flag atop the lighthouse.

On October 18, 1898, Rivero Méndez was ordered to turn over the keys of all the military installations in San Juan to Captain Henry A. Reed of the U.S. Army.

Newspaper reports from his obituary state that he served as governor of Puerto Rico for two days and that after the war, Rivero Méndez became a US Citizen.

[11][12] Now, Kola Champagne is manufactured and sold in the United States and Mexico by Goya Foods, Inc.[13] Other countries that have also produced the drink are Colombia[14] and Jamaica.

The shrine, which still stands today and is considered an important landmark of the area, was blessed by San Juan's Bishop Jorge Caruana on January 6, 1925.

Rivero Méndez died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on February 23, 1930, while at his country home in Cuevas barrio, in Trujillo Alto.