Jane J.,
What you read is right on target, though I'd say, specifically, that Pena Gomez was born in Hato Nuevo, Guayacanes (Provincia Valverde) on March 6, 1937 to Haitian parents. Once his parents fled, Pena, an infant, was left to be cared for by a young relative and was later adopted by a family who lived in Mao. These people were Regino Pena and Fermina Gomez.
Now if locals in Mao want to dispute and refute that, I guess in the DR they have every right to do so, and could. We love a rigged game, boy. Yes, Pena Gomez had Haitian ancestry through his parents, but that should not-and did not-disqualify him from becoming a great political leader--leader of one of the strongest political parties until recently in the Dominican Republic. If so, that same "obstacle" then, should have applied to our last former dictator of thirty-one years, Rafael L. Trujillo, who had Haitian ancestry through his mother, the former Ms. Chevalier. And Joaquin Balaguer, also, like Trujillo, had Haitian ancestry through his mother, who was a cousin of Ulysses Heureux (Lilis)-yet another dictator, a Black himself, and of Haitian descent.
I don't believe Pena Gomez was held accountable for any charges brought against him (if any), but I could be wrong. Yet I do know that this man was a voice for the oppressed, and a staunch defender of the poor. Pena Gomez helped incite a 1965 popular rebellion against the army, which had ousted leftist leader Juan Bosch two years earlier. But the uprising was soon quelled when US President Lyndon B. Johnson--fearing a Cuban-style revolution--sent in troops and installed a conservative puppet President. Years later, Pena Gomez tried for the country's top post, but his 1996 presidential hopes were foiled by racist flyers depicting him as an ape sitting on a throne and by alleged voter fraud. And all this was, of course, set up by Mr. Machiavelli himself, el do'tor Joaquin Balaguer.
For Pena Gomez, the least we could do as a country and out of respect for this man's memory, I think, is name an airport after him. And my personal feelings about Dominican politics in general also echo Joseito's post entirely.
-Indie
Leonardo1267, I'm not done yet.