José Francisco Peña Gómez
José Francisco Peña Gómez (born March 6, 1937 in Mao, Valverde, Dominican Republic, died May 10, 1998 in Cambita Garabitos, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic) was the leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) and former Mayor of Santo Domingo.
Born to poor immigrants from Haiti, Peña Gómez was adopted as an infant by a Dominican family when his parents were forced to flee to Haiti as the Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo unleashed a campaign of hatred against Haitians.
Peña received a doctorate at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) in 1966 before going on to higher studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In 1961, he became a supporter of Juan Bosch, then leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), who, despite winning the presidential elections of 1962, was ousted in a military coup in September 1963. In 1965, Peña rose to political prominence as he went on Radio Santo Domingo and called for a popular insurrection against the military dictatorship and a return of Bosch. Peña worked with Bosch in the PRD until Bosch left to form the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973. Under Peña's leadership, the PRD won the presidential election in 1978 (Antonio Guzmán Fernández) and 1982 (Salvador Jorge Blanco), and he himself was Mayor of Santo Domingo from 1982 to 1986.
Peña ran for the presidency in 1990, coming in third behind Joaquín Balaguer of the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) and Bosch of the PLD. In 1994's presidential race, Peña lost to Balaguer in a extremely tight election marred by irregularities and fraud. Peña called a general strike which was widely supported by his followers and after international protest, 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, a lawyer representing the PLD, won a narrow victory.
Peña Gómez, who suffered from pancreatic cancer, died in his home from a pulmonary edema, 10 days before the elections for Mayor of Santo Domingo, in which he was running.