Danilo Medina on route to see his dream of being President become reality
SANTO DOMINGO. In Arroyo Cano, in the province of San Juan, they are convinced that the next President of the Republic will be from this place. "Here we are with Danilo in our hearts," said Julio Sanchez, one of the residents.
In Arroyo Cano, Danilo lived the first years of his childhood and reached the fifth grade. Then he was sent to San Juan de la Maguana, to the house of his father's brother, his uncle Jose Medina, so that he could continue his studies. There he took his first steps in political activism, under the cover of the Democratic Association of San Juan Students, and later he was one of the founders of the San Juan Section of the Student Nationalist Revolutionary Front (FREN), an affiliate of the PRD.
The references that exist of his rural student years are good. German Susaña, his teacher in the third and fifth grades, said that "he always got good grades." This record he kept up until the end, since he was the high school graduate with the highest average in his class.
In 1971, Medina emigrated to the capital together with his uncle's family, in order to enter the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and study chemical engineering. As with other students from rural areas and with limited economic possibilities, he had to combine his studies with the job he obtained at the General Directorate of Customs (DGA).
He remembers this as a difficult time. "At times we were up all night studying in groups, and from where we were studying we would go off to work," said the candidate in a biography.
In the UASD his ties with student groups were fortified and it was at this time of his life that he became close to Juan Bosch, his political mentor and whom he accompanied in 1973 in founding the PLD.
Up close
The person who is heading the purple ticket, defines himself as a pragmatist. "I guide myself a lot by the logic of the events. I do not idealize things. I think that everyone has the right to strive for what they consider to be in their interest, and with this vision of life I try to fulfill my role. I believe that man should not be after the pursuit of nothing, since things, when you deserve them, arrive (...)," he said in an interview that was done in 1994.
In the same way he says he is an admitted democrat, to the point that "I would never accept a post that was not from the popular will."
Medina was raised in a family of evangelical Christians (his father is a pastor), but at the present time he does not profess any religion. His wife Candy Montilla, who is an active Catholic, says that he is "a friend of all religions."
From this Christian upbringing, Medina learned values which today make him proud. In this aspect he has said that he wants to be remembered as an ethical and moral president, that when he leaves the presidency can look any citizen in the eyes without lowering his head.
In his public acts he has stood out as a conciliator, disciplined and with a speech that is directed towards the poorest.
In person, he keeps a low profile, and according to his closest friends, he is somewhat "superstitious"-like a good Sanjuanero of course-and with little material ambitions. In 2004, when he made his last statement of assets, Medina had a house in El Rosal, two Mitsubishi SUVs, office equipment and shares worth RD$100,000 in the company called Liberty Cargo.
The politician
In the PLD, Medina has held positions in all of the structure: from national activist, member of the Political Committee, and of the Central Committee, chief of the national campaign and all the way to presidential candidate. Perhaps because of this he is known as having a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of the organization of the party and is very close to the rank and file.
And it is that according to what his assistant, Carlos Pared, has said that Medina is very supportive, sensitive with his friends and is always aware of his people. "He is the leader that visits the sick, that identifies with the problems of others, that listens and helps when he can," stressed Pared.
On the PLD ticket, Medina was elected deputy for the first time in 1986, a position he held in 1990 and in 1994, He did not finish the last term because he resigned in order to be secretary of the Presidency in the first administration of Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000).
For a year he presided over the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1994 he was one of the actors in the Pact for Democracy following the crisis after the elections.
Medina, in addition, has been a great political strategist, and he is credited with having a predominant role in the 2006 campaign when they captured the majority of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
He openly showed his presidential aspirations in 1998 and a year later he was named candidate for the PLD. He took part in the 2000 elections against Hipolito Mejia and Joaquin Balaguer, obtaining 25% of the popular vote.
With the return of the PLD in 2004, he once again occupied the position of Presidential secretary, but he left the post two years later to dedicate himself to his own project, a decision that put him against the President because he took a critical position in the fact of the administration and the issue of re-election. Of the result of this fight, his dogmatic phrase is remembered: "The State defeated me."
They say about him that...
Lucia Medina (sister)
"He has always been a paternalistic brother. With a noble heart, who always wanted that we should all have a higher education. He married late because of this, because he was always attending to us as if we were his children. It was he that signed by report cards."
Candida Montilla (wife)
He is conservative in temperament, but very thoughtful. In the house he is the center of everything that happens, of us four. He is attentive to each one, what we do, what we can give to others. He always pushes us to get better."
Radhames Camacho (PLD comrade)
"Danilo is a careful citizen, with lots of human qualities, that allows himself to be guided by us, and he coordinates and refines. When I say that he allows us to guide this is to say that we prepare the agendas and he approves them."
Family
Medina was studying for a second career-economy-at Intec when he met Candida Montilla (Candy), his wife and the mother of his three girls: Sybelis, Vanessa and Ana Paula. At that time he had moved with his parents and siblings to the El Rosal residential buildings in East Santo Domingo.
The meeting came about on Principe Negro Street (Black Prince St.) where both lived. She recalls with emotion the morning that she was going to study at the house of a friend, Medina offered her a ride in his car. "From that day we connected with a look, because he, as well as I, look profoundly at people in the eyes," she confessed to Diario Libre.
The civil and religious union came two years later. Married, the couple lived on Guayubin Olivo Street in Vista Hermosa, in East Santo Domingo. There, people who knew them recall that he was a man "that was not often seen around" and almost never left his house. Yeuri Andujar, who knew him well, agrees with others who were interviewed in saying that he is "decent, pacific and quiet."
In the meantime, his wife defines him as very much a family man, and a father devoted to his daughters, for whom he chose the names. She says that one of the few distractions for Medina is to listen to music. He likes the songs of Victor Manuel, Ana Belen and Raphael, and with regard to food, he prefers his "flag" (rice, beans, meat and salad) a dessert and coffee. "We have a very normal life in the family environment," says Montilla.
For the last 14 years, the candidate lives on Cibao Street, in Los Cacicazgos, in the National District, in an apartment in the Artemia apartment tower.
In Arroyo Cano, Danilo lived the first years of his childhood and reached the fifth grade. Then he was sent to San Juan de la Maguana, to the house of his father's brother, his uncle Jose Medina, so that he could continue his studies. There he took his first steps in political activism, under the cover of the Democratic Association of San Juan Students, and later he was one of the founders of the San Juan Section of the Student Nationalist Revolutionary Front (FREN), an affiliate of the PRD.
The references that exist of his rural student years are good. German Susaña, his teacher in the third and fifth grades, said that "he always got good grades." This record he kept up until the end, since he was the high school graduate with the highest average in his class.
In 1971, Medina emigrated to the capital together with his uncle's family, in order to enter the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and study chemical engineering. As with other students from rural areas and with limited economic possibilities, he had to combine his studies with the job he obtained at the General Directorate of Customs (DGA).
He remembers this as a difficult time. "At times we were up all night studying in groups, and from where we were studying we would go off to work," said the candidate in a biography.
In the UASD his ties with student groups were fortified and it was at this time of his life that he became close to Juan Bosch, his political mentor and whom he accompanied in 1973 in founding the PLD.
Up close
The person who is heading the purple ticket, defines himself as a pragmatist. "I guide myself a lot by the logic of the events. I do not idealize things. I think that everyone has the right to strive for what they consider to be in their interest, and with this vision of life I try to fulfill my role. I believe that man should not be after the pursuit of nothing, since things, when you deserve them, arrive (...)," he said in an interview that was done in 1994.
In the same way he says he is an admitted democrat, to the point that "I would never accept a post that was not from the popular will."
Medina was raised in a family of evangelical Christians (his father is a pastor), but at the present time he does not profess any religion. His wife Candy Montilla, who is an active Catholic, says that he is "a friend of all religions."
From this Christian upbringing, Medina learned values which today make him proud. In this aspect he has said that he wants to be remembered as an ethical and moral president, that when he leaves the presidency can look any citizen in the eyes without lowering his head.
In his public acts he has stood out as a conciliator, disciplined and with a speech that is directed towards the poorest.
In person, he keeps a low profile, and according to his closest friends, he is somewhat "superstitious"-like a good Sanjuanero of course-and with little material ambitions. In 2004, when he made his last statement of assets, Medina had a house in El Rosal, two Mitsubishi SUVs, office equipment and shares worth RD$100,000 in the company called Liberty Cargo.
The politician
In the PLD, Medina has held positions in all of the structure: from national activist, member of the Political Committee, and of the Central Committee, chief of the national campaign and all the way to presidential candidate. Perhaps because of this he is known as having a lot of knowledge about the inner workings of the organization of the party and is very close to the rank and file.
And it is that according to what his assistant, Carlos Pared, has said that Medina is very supportive, sensitive with his friends and is always aware of his people. "He is the leader that visits the sick, that identifies with the problems of others, that listens and helps when he can," stressed Pared.
On the PLD ticket, Medina was elected deputy for the first time in 1986, a position he held in 1990 and in 1994, He did not finish the last term because he resigned in order to be secretary of the Presidency in the first administration of Leonel Fernandez (1996-2000).
For a year he presided over the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1994 he was one of the actors in the Pact for Democracy following the crisis after the elections.
Medina, in addition, has been a great political strategist, and he is credited with having a predominant role in the 2006 campaign when they captured the majority of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
He openly showed his presidential aspirations in 1998 and a year later he was named candidate for the PLD. He took part in the 2000 elections against Hipolito Mejia and Joaquin Balaguer, obtaining 25% of the popular vote.
With the return of the PLD in 2004, he once again occupied the position of Presidential secretary, but he left the post two years later to dedicate himself to his own project, a decision that put him against the President because he took a critical position in the fact of the administration and the issue of re-election. Of the result of this fight, his dogmatic phrase is remembered: "The State defeated me."
They say about him that...
Lucia Medina (sister)
"He has always been a paternalistic brother. With a noble heart, who always wanted that we should all have a higher education. He married late because of this, because he was always attending to us as if we were his children. It was he that signed by report cards."
Candida Montilla (wife)
He is conservative in temperament, but very thoughtful. In the house he is the center of everything that happens, of us four. He is attentive to each one, what we do, what we can give to others. He always pushes us to get better."
Radhames Camacho (PLD comrade)
"Danilo is a careful citizen, with lots of human qualities, that allows himself to be guided by us, and he coordinates and refines. When I say that he allows us to guide this is to say that we prepare the agendas and he approves them."
Family
Medina was studying for a second career-economy-at Intec when he met Candida Montilla (Candy), his wife and the mother of his three girls: Sybelis, Vanessa and Ana Paula. At that time he had moved with his parents and siblings to the El Rosal residential buildings in East Santo Domingo.
The meeting came about on Principe Negro Street (Black Prince St.) where both lived. She recalls with emotion the morning that she was going to study at the house of a friend, Medina offered her a ride in his car. "From that day we connected with a look, because he, as well as I, look profoundly at people in the eyes," she confessed to Diario Libre.
The civil and religious union came two years later. Married, the couple lived on Guayubin Olivo Street in Vista Hermosa, in East Santo Domingo. There, people who knew them recall that he was a man "that was not often seen around" and almost never left his house. Yeuri Andujar, who knew him well, agrees with others who were interviewed in saying that he is "decent, pacific and quiet."
In the meantime, his wife defines him as very much a family man, and a father devoted to his daughters, for whom he chose the names. She says that one of the few distractions for Medina is to listen to music. He likes the songs of Victor Manuel, Ana Belen and Raphael, and with regard to food, he prefers his "flag" (rice, beans, meat and salad) a dessert and coffee. "We have a very normal life in the family environment," says Montilla.
For the last 14 years, the candidate lives on Cibao Street, in Los Cacicazgos, in the National District, in an apartment in the Artemia apartment tower.
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