José Francisco Peña Gómez was born on March 6, 1937, on El Flaco hill, Cruce de Guayacanes, in Mao. He died on May 10, 1998, in Santo Domingo, leaving a prominent political life history, in which he transcended as leader of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (Dominican Revolutionary Party), the PRD.

He joined the PRD in 1961, and thru this organization got engaged in the fight against the remnants of Rafael Leonids Trujillo’s tyranny.

His leading role in politics was consolidated at the beginning of the Civil War of 1965, when he called the people to mobilize and defend the constitutionality that had been lost in 1963.

His strong academic preparation made him one of the most educated Dominican politicians, who had a great vision for education and international policy. He received a law degree from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, and studied political sciences at Harvard University and Michigan State University. In addition, he pursued Constitutional Law studies at Paris University, and Educational Policy, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

His fervent oratory skills, which he cultivated on open platforms before hundreds of thousands supporters of his political party, as well as on the microphones of a radio station that transmitted the daily show of the political organization, was one of his most important political tools.

He was the president of the PRD from 1986 until his death; vice-president of the “Conferencia Permanente de Partidos Politicos de America Latina” (Permanent Conference of Latin American Political Parties); vice-president of Socialist International and president of the same organization in Latin America; vice-president of the Asociacion Latinoamericana para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (Latin American Association for the Defense of Human Rights); member of the board of directors of Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios Politicos, Economicos y Sociales (Latin American Institute of Political, Economic and Social Studies); member of the Dialogo Interamericano (Inter American Dialogue); and Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador in Italy, France and Spain, among other positions.

He was a member of the first executive committee of the PRD, in which he served as secretary of press and promotion. He became a leader within the party, first next to Juan Bosch and later by himself, after serving as the general secretary.  

His leadership facilitated the PRD’s electoral victory in 1978 and 1982. In the latter term, 1982-1986, he was elected Mayor of the National District.

Peña Gómez was PRD´s presidential candidate in 1994. He lost the elections in a consultation, in which a commission of an electoral fraud was confirmed. A signing of a “Pacto por la democracia” (Pact for democracy) determined that elections will be held two years later. Thus, in 1996, he ran again as a presidential candidate, however, he was defeated when the then President of the Republic, Joaquin Balaguer, joined forces with the other opposing candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). With Leonel Fernández as PLD candidate, Peña Gómez saw his dream of becoming the President of the Republic permanently frustrated. Fernández won the elections and was inaugurated President of the Republic for the 1996-2000 presidential term.

Two years after the defeat, he died victim of a cancer he had fought against for several years. His death became a great political event when thousands of Dominicans went out on the streets in silence to say their last farewell.

His alleged Haitian origin marked his political career to a great extent. For many of his political opponents this was a recurrent argument during electoral campaigns. Peña Gómez always argued that his parents, Oguis Vincent and Maria Marcelino, lived in the hill of El Flaco, in Cruce Guayacanes, and that when the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo ordered the Haitian persecution, they had to flee and leave him, although he was only a few months old. A family, who found him, adopted the abandoned child.