On Thursday, September 10, Raquel Peña, the Vice President of the Dominican Republic, marked a significant milestone as she celebrated her 60th birthday. Born in 1966 in the northern Dominican city of Santiago de los Caballeros, Peña built her early academic foundation at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), where she earned a respected degree in Business Administration.
Peña made history in Dominican politics when she first assumed the vice presidency in August 2020, stepping into office as only the third woman to ever hold the nation’s second-highest executive position in the country’s history. Her track record of public service earned her broad support, leading to her re-election alongside incumbent President Luis Abinader in the 2024 general election for a second consecutive term.
As the nation marked her birthday, messages of celebration and recognition poured in from across the public sector. Senior government officials, leading state institutions, and prominent public figures across the Dominican Republic joined together to congratulate Peña, highlighting her decades of impactful work across three distinct spheres: academia, the private business sector, and public service. Many tributes emphasized her contributions to advancing gender representation in Dominican leadership and her collaborative approach to advancing the administration’s policy priorities during her tenure.