José Francisco Peña Gómez (6 March 1937 – 10 May 1998) was a politician from the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. He was the leader of the

Dominican Revolutionary Party The Dominican Revolutionary Party ( es, link=no, Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, PRD) is a political party in the Dominican Republic. Traditionally a left-of-centre party and social democratic in nature, the party has shifted since the 2000 ...

(PRD), a three-time candidate for president of the Dominican Republic and former Mayor of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

. He is considered, along with

Joaquín Balaguer Joaquín Antonio Balaguer Ricardo (1 September 1906 – 14 July 2002) was a Dominican politician, scholar, writer, and lawyer. He was President of the Dominican Republic serving three non-consecutive terms for that office from 1960 to 196 ...

and Juan Bosch, as one of the most prominent Dominican political figures of the 20th century.

Early life

Born to María Marcelin, a Haitian woman, and Oguís Vincent, a Haitian immigrant, on March 6, 1937 in Mao,

, Peña Gómez was adopted as an infant by Simón Pichardo and Andrea Rodríguez de Pichardo, a Dominican family, when his parents had to flee to Haiti (where they died) in order to save their lives as the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo enacted the

Parsley Massacre The Parsley massacre (Spanish: ''el corte'' "the cutting"; Creole: ''kout kouto-a'' "the stabbing") (french: Massacre du Persil; es, Masacre del Perejil; ht, Masak nan Pèsil) was a mass killing of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic's nor ...

against Haitians that same year. In later years, Peña Gómez’ opponents would use his Haitian ancestry against him. Peña Gómez received a BA-equivalent degree from the

Autonomous University of Santo Domingo In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...

(UASD) in 1966 before going on to higher studies at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

The April Civil War and Exile

Since 1961, Peña Gómez became a supporter of Juan Bosch, then leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). Bosch won the presidential elections of 1962, the first democratic president in 32 years, but his government was ousted in a military coup on September 25, 1963. In 1965, Peña rose to political prominence as he went on Radio Santo Domingo and called for a popular insurrection against the military coup and a return of Bosch. U. S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered a military invasion to prevent what he feared was a possible communist movement within the country.

Leadership of the P.R.D.

In December 1973, Bosch formed the

Dominican Liberation Party The Dominican Liberation Party ( Spanish: Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, referred to here by its Spanish acronym, the PLD) is a political party in the Dominican Republic. Founded in 1973 by former president Juan Bosch, the party, along ...

(P.L.D.). Under Peña's leadership, the P.R.D. won the presidential election in 1978 ( Antonio Guzmán) and 1982 (

Salvador Jorge Blanco José Salvador Omar Jorge Blanco (July 5, 1926 – December 26, 2010) was a politician, lawyer and a writer. He was President of the Dominican Republic, from 1982 to 1986. He was a Senator running for the PRD party. He started his political care ...

), and he himself was Mayor of Santo Domingo from 1982 to 1986. His period is mostly remembered for the creation of the ''Plaza Güibia'' (Güibia Plaza), on the seaside boulevard and plantation of ornamental trees in mayor Santo Domingo city avenues. In 1990, Peña ran for the presidency, coming in third behind Balaguer of the

Social Christian Reformist Party The Social Christian Reformist Party ( es, Partido Reformista Social Cristiano, PRSC) is a Christian democratic right-wing political party in the Dominican Republic. It was established on July 24, 1984, by the union of Joaquín Balaguer's ' ...

(PRSC) and Bosch of the PLD. By 1994, the PRD was solidified and motivated, and Peña was once again the party's standard-bearer in the presidential election. Even by Dominican standards, the 1994 campaign was violent and dirty. Peña lost to Balaguer in an extremely tight election marred by numerous irregularities. A number of Peña supporters showed up to vote only to discover their names had vanished from the rolls. Peña called a general strike which was widely supported by his followers. After international protest, an investigation was mounted that raised grave concerns about the poll's legitimacy. The electoral board did not know the total number of registered voters, and the voting lists distributed at polling stations did not match those given to the parties. The investigation also revealed that about 200,000 people had been removed from the polls. After intense negotiations, Balaguer announced that he would leave office prematurely in 1996 after serving seven terms in power. In the 1996 poll, Peña won the first round of voting but fell short of the majority needed. In the second round of voting,

Leonel Fernández Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna () (born 26 December 1953) is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and was the 50th and 52nd President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012. From 2016 until 2020, he was the President of th ...

, a lawyer representing the PLD, won a narrow victory due to an alliance between the PLD with Balaguer's PRSC.

Personal life

Peña Gómez married four times, the first time with Julia Idalia Guaba Martínez. The children are as follows: Lourdes Fátima, Luz del Alba “Luchy”, José Francisco “José Frank”, and Francisco Antonio “Tony” Peña Guaba. His second marriage was to Ana Rosa Meléndez (former Director of the Museum of Modern Dominican Art); their child was María Rosa Peña Meléndez. His fourth and last marriage was to

Peggy Cabral Alba María Antonia Cabral Cornero (born 26 June 1947), known as Peggy, is a Dominican journalist, television host, politician and diplomat. Cabral was co-president of the Dominican Revolutionary Party from 2013 to 2020; she also was vice-ma ...

, daughter of the Dominican writer Manuel del Cabral. Peña had nine children in total.

Final years

Peña Gómez died on May 10, 1998 in Cambita Garabitos, San Cristóbal, 6 days before the mayoral elections of Santo Domingo, in which he was running. Peña Gómez was one of the most popular leaders in recent political history in Dominican Republic, especially among the poor masses. Being a key political figure until his death, the main Dominican Republic international airport was renamed from ''"Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas"'' to ''"Aeropuerto Internacional Las Américas José Francisco Peña Gómez"''.

Legacy

metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

and an International Airport in Santo Domingo is named in honor of Peña Gómez.

References

External links

Dominican Today: The legacy of Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pena Gomez, Jose Francisco 1937 births 1998 deaths University of Paris alumni Harvard University alumni Michigan State University alumni Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo alumni Dominican Revolutionary Party politicians Dominican Republic people of Haitian descent Mayors of places in the Dominican Republic Candidates for President of the Dominican Republic