How Did Rafael Hipolito Mejia Dominguez Become Leader?

Rafael Hipolito Mejia Dominguez was born on February 22, 1941 in the town of Gurabo in the province of Santiago in the Dominican Republic. He served as the president of the Dominican Republic for a term of four years, between August 16, 2000 and August 16, 2004.

At the age of 24, Mejia was appointed the director and undersecretary of the National Tobacco Institute. In the year 1978, when Antonio Guzman Fernandez was the president of the Dominican Republic, Mejia was appointed Minister of Agriculture and his responsibilities included ensuring that the new agri-business incentive laws were passed and formulating programmes for the promotion of the development and technification of rural agriculture.

In the year 1982, he suffered a setback when his campaign to become the senator of the province of Santiago ended in defeat. In 1990, he was named as the candidate for the post of vice-president on the ticket of the leader of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, Jose Francisco Pena Gomez.