José Luis Corripio


José Luis ‘Pepín’ Corripio Estrada is a Dominican businessman of Spanish origin.
Born in 1934 as the only child in a poor family in Spain, Corripio’s family migrated to the Dominican Republic when he was still an infant, fleeing from the Spanish Civil War. The Corripio family went from rags to riches: his father, Manuel Corripio García, founded a small shop, and by the time of the death of the strongman Rafael Trujillo in 1961, Corripio García was the third richest man in the Dominican Republic, only after Trujillo himself and Rafael Esteva Menéndez. The business grew and diversified, becoming in Grupo Corripio, an economic empire in the Dominican Republic creating over 12000 jobs; Corripio Estrada became the wealthiest man in the country.

Early life

Corripio Estrada born in 1934 in the Spanish village of Arroes, in Asturias, to Sara Estrada and Manuel Corripio García. In 1938, the Dominican Republic became his new home amid the Spanish Civil War.
Corripio studied at the De La Salle School in Santo Domingo, where he directed its monthly periodical; he graduated in 1951.
On 16 August 1963, Corripio married Ana María Alonso, a native of Piloña, at the Holy Cave of Covadonga. They have 4 children: Manuel, José Alfredo, Lucía, Ana. Manuel married to Rafaela Martínez; José Alfredo married Laura Pereda; Lucía married Alejandro González; Ana married Rafael Barceló.
During the decade of the 70's, Corripio was kidnapped by the Sanchez Tejada brothers' band, and kept holed up for days inside a water reservoir near the San Isidro's Air Force base. During the time Corripio remain kidnapped, the kidnappers made him believe they were members of the military. The Sanchez Tejada brothers had an auto mechanics shop near the Braulio Alvarez city park where they would disassemble stolen vehicles for stolen parts profiting. One of the Sanchez Tejada brothers resided in the Jose Amado Soler street in the affluent Naco neighborhood.

Business career

In the early 1960s, José Luis Corripio began a process of diversification and expansion of the family business. In 1973, he went into the media business.