Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez’s burial ceremony was as he would have wanted – the largest political march ever held in this country in the past 30 years. His funeral procession, a nine-hour caravan through city streets, attracted thousands of his followers who waved PRD flags and bid good-bye to the charismatic politician. Peña is one of a trio of politicians who championed the Dominican political scene following the death of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo in 1961, the other two being nonagenarians Dr. Joaquín Balaguer and Professor Juan Bosch. Peña Gómez had been fighting against his pancreatic cancer for several years, and despite knowing he could die any day, he chose to be his party’s candidate for mayor of Santo Domingo, when the different factions within couldn’t agree on who would be the candidate. Peña died barely a week before the elections. His funeral procession through Santo Domingo streets ran from the Olympic Stadium to John F. Kennedy Ave., then south down Máximo Gómez Ave. to César Nicolás Penson Ave., Dr. Báez St., Ave. Bolívar, then Ave. Abraham Lincoln, to the municipality at Calle Ventura Simó, and then north by way of Ave. Jiménez Moya, Ave. Sarasota, Ave. Núñez de Cáceres to Autopista Duarte and finally reaching the cemetery at 4 pm. Thousands of Dominicans didn’t work that day to pay homage to the man they admired. Historians say that his burial was the most attended since that of Dictator Trujillo in 1961. President Leonel Fernandez decreed that Dr. Peña Gómez, in recognition of his leadership and contributions to democracy, be given honors of chief of state, despite the fact the politician failed to reach the presidency in three attempts. Felipe Gonzalez, the long-time president of Spain who came for the ceremony, said at the Olympic Stadium that Peña had won the presidency in the hearts of Dominicans. At the burial ceremony, Hugo Tolentino Dipp, former president of the Chamber of Deputies and member of the PRD national committee, highlighted the tenacity and personal superation of Peña Gomez. A gifted child, he was abandoned by his parents who fled to Haiti when Trujillo ordered the slaying of all Haitians in the frontier zone in the 30s, to become recognized worldwide as one of the most outstanding Latin American politicians of all times. Party secretary general Hatuey de Camps said that Peña died fighting for the unity of the PRD. When the procession stopped at the headquarters of the party, all present promised to respect the rules of the organization so that there would be no more division within the party. Shortly after the panegyrics were read at the cemetery, there was thunder, lightning and a heavy rainfall, a dramatic good-bye to the outstanding Dominican.
