José Francisco Peña Gómez
| José Francisco Peña Gómez | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of the National District (Santo Domingo) | |
|
In office 16 August 1982 – 16 August 1986 |
|
| Lieutenant | Johnny Ventura |
| Preceded by | Pedro Franco Badía |
| Succeeded by | Fello Suberví |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Birth name unknown 6 March 1937 Mao, Santiago Province (now in Valverde Province), Dominican Republic |
| Died | 10 May 1998 (aged 61) Cambita Garabitos, San Cristóbal Province, Dominican Republic |
| Citizenship |
 Dominican Republic
|
| Political party | Dominican Revolutionary Party |
| Other political affiliations |
Social Democratic Institutional Bloc |
| Ethnicity | Haitian–Dominican |
José Francisco Peña Gómez (6 March 1937 – 10 May 1998) was a politician from the Dominican Republic. He was the leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), a three-time candidate for president of the Dominican Republic and former Mayor of Santo Domingo. He is considered, along with Joaquín Balaguer and Juan Bosch, as one of the most prominent Dominican political figures of the 20th century. His widow Peggy Cabral is currently one of the two co-Presidents of the PRD.
Born to María Marcelin, a Haitian woman, and Oguís Vincent, a Haitian immigrant, on March 6, 1937 in Mao, Santiago Province (now in Valverde Province), Dominican Republic, Peña Gómez was adopted as an infant by Simon Pichardo and Andrea Rodriguez de Pichardo, a Dominican peasant 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 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 (UASD) in 1966 before going on to higher studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.
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.
...
Wikipedia