Former first lady died last Monday at the age of 82 due to a heart attack
The recently deceased former First Lady of the Republic, Mrs. Rosa Gómez de Mejía, left her mark on society during her four-year stay in the State (2000-2004), but if something marks her arrival at the National Palace forever, together with her husband, former President Hipólito Mejía, was her vision of giving an institutional character to the work carried out by the figure of the first lady. This is how the Office of the First Lady emerged as an institution attached to the Presidency of the Republic, in the year 2000.
In a documentary about the first ladies made by the communicator Jatnna Tavárez, Doña Rosa said that the idea came from a trip she made to El Salvador and that brought together the first ladies of Central America.
“From there I came with the certainty that you had to have something that was institutional so that the office could open up a field. The works that we had to do, we had to have where to launch them. I believed that the first lady should have a space to be able to work, ”she explained in the aforementioned report.
President Mejía issued decree 741-00 on September 10, 2000, giving rise to the institution.
“The Office of the First Lady of the Dominican Republic is a technical-administrative instance of the Presidency of the Republic, according to Decree No. 741-00 dated September 10, 2000, which creates the same, with the objective of supporting the plans, public policies, projects and initiatives developed by the superior government”, states the decree that was annulled by President Luís Abinader.
In its beginnings, the entity was known as (Depridam), and had the objective of being an “efficient agile entity that instead of duplicating and substituting the attributions and actions of the sectorial entities of the State, will carry out the necessary coordination, acting as an entity of liaison with governmental and non-governmental institutions in matters of social welfare”.
Like the deceased wife of former President Mejía, it was up to her to define the characteristics of that institution, she outlined as a mission: “Support, promote and execute actions that achieve the comprehensive development of the family, prioritizing the strengthening of the actions of government entities and private associations to promote the normative and functional human development of children and adolescents, especially those who have not been able to have the ideal conditions to overcome the limitations found in their evolutionary processes”.
It also outlined the goal of promoting cultural development in childhood; promote programs of gender equity, protection of underprivileged women and prevention and attention to family violence; as well as promoting aid programs for the elderly.
The values of the institution were defined in five concepts: dedication to service, teamwork, leadership and integral humanism.
In Doña Rosa’s original idea of the Office of the First Lady, it would not be the executor, but rather the mediator and coordinator through the various state institutions.
One of the first projects launched by Doña Rosa Gómez de Mejía was the charity concert she organized entitled: “Cuatro Lunas en Palacio”, presented by the singer Julio Iglesias, in the Las Cariátides hall of the National Palace, at a cost of 25 thousand pesos per couple. The resources that were collected from that event, for an amount of 15 million pesos, were destined to works of social good of the first lady of the nation.
The social work of Doña Rosa’s management focused on education in support of the polytechnics of Greater Santo Domingo and provinces such as Dajabón. During her management, the Firm also developed an intense international agenda and in 2003 the Conference of first ladies, wives and representatives of heads of state and government of the Americas was held in the country.
Doña Rosa Gómez de Mejía was born in 1940 and married Hipólito Mejía in 1964. In 2000, they became the presidential couple, after Mejía won the Presidency of the Republic in the elections of that year.
How did the most symbolic work of Doña Rosa come about?
In the report with Jatnna Tavárez, Doña Rosa revealed that she brought her the idea of creating the Trampolín children’s museum from Costa Rica. “That museum for me is something wonderful, it was a creation of having been in Costa Rica, and I saw the museum they have for children, you can talk a lot, a lot, a lot about this, about how the idea of the museum”, he told in an interview. “Today I invite you to visit it, because it is something that fills us with joy and pride, because the tasks that are done in the museum are all to make children grow, and they receive the information while playing. It is something wonderful,” said Doña Rosa. The former first lady confessed that the last two years of her management she dedicated most of her efforts to leave this work destined for children. Before her death, it was the last place she visited.
