Raquel Peña (politician)

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Peña, the second or maternal family name is Rodríguez, and, for married women, the optional marital name is de Antuña.

Raquel Peña
Peña in 2025
40th Vice President of the Dominican Republic
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 August 2020
President	Luis Abinader
Preceded by	Margarita Cedeño
Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources
Acting 16 June 2022 – 7 July 2022
President	Luis Abinader
Preceded by	Orlando Jorge Mera
Succeeded by	Miguel Ceara Hatton
Personal details
Born	Raquel Peña Rodríguez (1966-09-10) 10 September 1966 Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Party	Modern Revolutionary Party
Spouse	Marco José Antuña Cabral (d. 2019)
Children	3
Education	Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (Lic.) Université du Québec à Montréal (MBA)
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Business administrator academician
Website	Vice President's website (in Spanish)

Raquel Peña Rodríguez de Antuña (born 10 September 1966) is a Dominican politician and academic who has served as the 40th Vice President of the Dominican Republic under President Luis Abinader since 2020.

Early life and education

Raquel Peña was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, on 10 September 1966, to Rafael Leocadio Peña Guillén and Estela Rodríguez de Peña. Her father was a cigar salesman. Her primary education was conducted in Santiago de los Caballeros at the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and La Salle schools. She graduated from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) with a degree in business administration and from the Université du Québec with a Master of Business Administration in 2002.

Career

Peña assumed control of the general management of the commercial and tobacco companies owned by her family. She holds shares in Parque Industrial Corporación Zona Franca del Norte, SA. She started teaching at PUCMM in 2000, and was director of the Business Administration. She was financial vice-rector of PUCMM from 2015 to 2020.

Peña's family had close ties to political figures in the Dominican Republic, including Hipólito Mejía and Luis Abinader. During the 2012 election Peña led the Modern Revolutionary Party's (PRM) campaign in Santiago de los Caballeros.

Abinader, the presidential nominee of the PRM, selected Peña as his vice presidential running mate and they won in the 2020 election. She is the third woman, after Milagros Ortiz Bosch and Margarita Cedeño, to serve as vice president.

Abinader appointed her as coordinator of the Health cabinet. In that position she managed the Dominican Republic's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was temporarily placed as head of the Ministry of Environment in 2022, until someone could be selected to lead it.

Personal life

Peña married Marco José Antuña Cabral, with whom she had three children before his death in 2019.

Political positions

Peña supports having the judiciary branch be independent of the executive branch.

Works cited

News

• "Conversación íntima con Raquel Peña, la vice de Luis Abinader". Hoy. 1 June 2020. Archived from the original on 25 June 2025.
• "Raquel Peña de Antuña, academic and member of several business bodies". Acento. 10 March 2020. Archived from the original on 30 May 2025.
• "Raquel Peña, from the education sector to the vice-presidency of the Republic in less than a year". Dominican Today. 16 August 2020. Archived from the original on 25 June 2025.
• Mena, Francisco (16 August 2020). "Raquel Peña es la nueva vicepresidenta de RD; hoy se convierten en realidad otros sueños y fantasías". Proceso. Archived from the original on 25 June 2025.

Web

• "Raquel Peña". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 25 June 2025.