Head of State 2004-2008

The most recent presidential elections were held on May 16, 2004 and were won by Dr. Leonel Fernández Reyna, the candidate representing the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD).

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Doctor Leonel Fernández (President of the Dominican Republic

Dr. Leonel Fernández, constitutional President of the Dominican Republic, is the President of the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) and honorary President of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (FUNGLODE).

President Fernández is a member of various councils and international institutions: Círculo de Montevideo (since 1996); Council of Freely Elected Heads of State of the Carter Center (since 1997); Foreign Affairs en Español (since 2000); the Inter-American Dialogue (since 2001) and Club de Madrid (since 2001). In addition, since 2000, he has chaired the Club of U.S.-Caribbean Executives, organized and sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington (CSIS); and since 2002 has acted as president of the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic.

He has been distinguished by various universities of excellent reputation with the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of the Sorbonne in 1999; Harvard University in 1999; the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña in 2000; Seton Hall University, New Jersey, in 2000; the Universidad Estatal de Santiago de Chile, in 2002; the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, in 2004; Nova Southeastern University, in Florida, on April 2, 2005; and lastly, the University of Massachusettes, in Boston, in June 2005.

Biographical information

Leonel Fernández was born December 26, 1953, in Santo Domingo, son of José Antonio Fernández Collado and Yolanda Reyna Romero. He is married to Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández and have three children: Nicole, Omar and Yolanda América.

As a child, he moved with his family to New York City, United States, where he began his studies and finished secondary school.

Upon returning to his country, he entered the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD). At the time, Dr. Fernández felt attracted by the more progressive ideals entering into the political debate, which would very early on bring him to study the work of the man that would be his mentor and guide: Professor Juan Bosch. Fernández accompanied the professor, together with the legion of Dominicans that founded the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) in 1973.

In his early years of the university, he joined the dynamic student movement of the 70s, in which he came to occupy the position of secretary general of the Asociación de Estudiantes de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas of the UASD, having participated actively in its activities.

In 1978, Leonel Fernández obtained the title of doctor of Law with honors, which won him the J. Humberto Doucudray Prize for being the best student in his class.

His thesis, "The Crime of Public Opinion", enriched the national bibliography on the complex and novel subject.

Other books written by Dr. Fernández are: The United States in the Caribbean: From the Cold War to the Reagan Plan and Roots of a Usurped Power. In addition, he has written for various national and international periodicals on subjects related to communications, culture, history and law.

His growing presence in intellectual circles, through conferences, periodical writings and debates, was paired with a progressive ascent into the heart of his party, which brought him to occupy positions of great political responsibility, making him a member of the Central Committee in 1985 and of the Political Committee in 1990. In the PLD, he has held the position of secretary of International Affairs and Press and he was the director of the Política, Teoría y Acción magazine.

Ana vid reader, Dr. Fernández is recognized as one of the most lucid academics and professionals of his generation. He has won prestige due to his solid education, as well as his ability as a speaker, with an excellent control of English and French.

In academic life, he has served as a professor of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo and the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), in the areas of Sociology of Communication, Press Law and International Relations.

Political career

His political and personal trajectory, from the 70s, brought Dr. Fernández to be selected by the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) in 1994 as candidate for Vice-President of the Republic and running mate of Professor Juan Bosch. Later, his party chose him, by a large majority, to be its candidate for the presidency in the elections of 1996, which he won after a vibrant political campaign, becoming the first Head of State from the PLD and one of the youngest statesmen in Latin America.

Strategies of government

Upon taking power on August 16, 1996, Dr. Fernández launched a dynamic and aggressive foreign policy that rescued the Dominican Republic from its traditional isolation and placed in the very center of regional integration processes, market openings and globalization. President Fernández actively participated in international forums such as the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Ibero-American and Central American Summit of Heads of State and Government and the Summit of the Americas. He officially visited sister countries, including the first official Dominican visit to Europe (France and Italy, 1999), Japan and Singapore (2000) and the first official visit, after the Trujillo dictatorship, of a Dominican head of State to its neighbor country, Haiti. The governor reinforced Dominican ties with the Central American and CARICOM countries and integrated the nation into the Rio group and the ACP countries (African, Caribbean and Pacific countries), of which he was chosen president for 2000. The Free Trade Agreement with the CARICOM and Central American countries was written by his presidency.

Internally, President Fernández has reoriented public investment toward social spending, favoring education and public health. Convinced that the development of information and communication technology represents the most powerful motor for the progress of a modern nation, Dr. Fernández dedicated special efforts to equipping all public secondary schools in the country with information laboratories. He began prizes for meritorious students, awarded monthly, on a national scale; he promoted a reading culture through competitions called Reading Olympics, and established the International Book Fair in Santo Domingo.

On the economic level, the Leonel Fernández government began programs for the creation of jobs, giving financial support to micro, small and medium business, constructing new industrial duty-free zones and implementing an active strategy for capturing foreign capital through the Office for Investment Promotion, created at his initiative. Under his direction, the Parque Cibernético, a duty-free zone for high techonology, was founded, accompanied by the Instituto Tecnológico de las Américas. In the four years of his presidency, the Dominican Republic showed an admirable macroeconomic performance and had one of the highest growth rates in the world, with an average of almost 8% annually.

Achievements

Together, these components of the extraordinary economic development of the country during the Fernández administration earned him the name "the Dominican miracle".

The government of President Fernández has executed an institutional reform and modernization of the State. Governmental offices were provided with computers. The foundation was laid for the institution of civil service and administrative careers. Public services were improved and given agility and transparency.

On the other hand, the Fernández administration has managed to put a traditionally chaotic and inefficient urban transportation system in order, as well as leave valuable works in the urban and provincial road network.

His initiative to hold a National Dialogue with the participation of all sectors of the country did not only allow a participative search for solutions to the principle challenges that face the Dominican Republic and create, by consensus, an agenda for the future of the nation, but was also keenly observed by other nations interested in promoting new modes of democratic participation.

Biography of Dr. Fernández >>
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