Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez, leader of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano and the party’s candidate to mayor for Santo Domingo, said in a press conference in New York City that no important organ of his body was affected by the health problems for which he traveled to New York City for treatment. Peña Gómez suffers from cancer of the pancreas which was diagnosed in 1994, shortly after he lost the presidential elections in the second round. He said that he suffered from malaria, anemia, acute pharyngitis, and difficulty with breathing and high fevers. He was hospitalized at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of the Memorial Hospital of New York City. While he left the hospital this week, he said he is still in New York because his physicians requested that he submit to supplementary tests. He said his physicians authorized him to return to Santo Domingo within a few days and to continue the electoral campaign. But he said they advised that he not subject himself to excessive and uncontrolled politicking. He said his health was affected by the stress of the last weeks of the difficult process to select the PRD candidates to the 16 May 1998 congressional and municipal elections.
