Portal:Dominican Republic/Selected biography/1

Danilo Medina Sanchez is the current President of the Dominican Republic, since August 16, 2012. With broad political career, Medina is a member of the Dominican Liberation Party, the political party which has run the government of the country since 2004. He won the May 2012 dominican presidential election, defeating Hipolito Mejía with 51% of the votes.

Medina was born in Arroyo Cano, San Juan Province, in the southwest of the Dominican Republic. He is the oldest of eight brothers born of Juan Pablo Medina and Amelia Sánchez. Since he was 18 years old he was a student leader, founding the San Juan de la Maguana branch of the Frente Revolucionario Estudiantil Nacionalista at the UASD. When Professor Juan Bosch founded the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana in 1973, Medina joined him. He studied economics at Instituto Tecnológico Santo Domingo (INTEC), and graduated magna cum laude in 1984. He has been a member of the Central Committee of the PLD since 1983. In 1986 election he was elected a deputy in Congress. In 1987, he married psychologist Cándida Montilla and has three daughters, Sibeli, Vanessa and Ana Paula. (more...)