Biographies

Leonel Fernández Reyna was born on December 26, 1953 in the city of Santo Domingo. He is married to Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández with whom he has one daughter, Yolanda América María Fernández Cedeño. He has two children from a former marriage, Nicole and Omar Fernández Domínguez.

His family and parents, the late José Antonio Fernández Collado and Yolanda Reyna Romero, moved to New York in 1962 where he received his early years of education.  Upon returning to the Dominican Republic, he enrolled in the Law Department of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD). In 1978, he graduated Magna Cum Laude and first in his class with a Doctorate in Law. His doctoral thesis, “The Crime of Public Opinion,” has enriched the national debate on this interesting subject.

As a professor to various generations of journalists and communicators at the state university, Dr. Fernández taught courses related to media law, history, sociology of communication and international relations. He was also a professor at the Latin American Department of Social Sciences (FLACSO). 

An avid reader, Dr. Fernández is recognized as one of the most articulate academics and professionals of his generation. He gained prestige because of his solid education and his skills as a gifted speaker. He is proficient in English and French.

In recognition of his contributions to the political sciences, he has received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the following renowned universities: the Sorbonne in 1999; the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University (UNPHU) in 2000; Seton Hall University of New Jersey in 2000; Santiago State University of Chile in 2002; Lehman College, in 2002; New Jersey’s Stevens Institute of Technology in 2004; Florida’s Nova Southeastern University; University of Massachusetts in Boston and the State University of Panama in 2005; in 2006 Taiwan’s University of Chinese Culture and South Korea’s University of Hankuk. 

Political Life

Dr. Fernández joined the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) in 1973 along with its founding members who were led by Professor Juan Bosch, a political leader who extolled the importance of social equality and honesty. In his early university years, Fernández joined the student movement of the 1970s and held the position of Secretary General of the Student Association of the Law and Political Sciences Department of the UASD.

His growing influence within intellectual circles, through conferences, journalistic work and debates, was occurring at the same time as his progressive ascent within his political party. He was elected to the Central Committee of the PLD in 1985 and, by 1990, was a member of the Political Committee. He also held the position of International Affairs and Press Secretary and director of the party’s magazine, Politics, Theory and Action.

In 1994, he was chosen to run as vice president alongside Professor Juan Bosch. By the end of 1995, he was nominated to be the presidential candidate for the May 16, 1996 elections. He rose to the challenge and was elected President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000.

He was the first President of the Dominican Republic ever to be elected from the ranks of the PLD and one of the youngest presidents in Latin America. In January 2002, the party bases unanimously chose him as president of the PLD. In July of the next year, he won the internal party elections and, once again, became the presidential candidate for the PLD.

Achievements of his government

As president of the Republic from 1996-2000, Fernández Reyna developed a dynamic foreign policy in an effort to pull the Dominican Republic from its traditional isolation. As part of this effort, he participated in important international forums such as the United Nations General Assembly, the Latin and Central American Summit of Heads of State and Government and the Summit of the Americas. He also made visits to various European nations as well as Japan and Singapore.

As Head of State, he reinforced Dominican ties with countries of the Common Market of the Caribbean (CARICOM) and Central America. He integrated the Dominican Republic into the Rio Group and the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific countries). He was chosen president of the ACP in 2000.  The Free Trade Agreement with CARICOM and Central American countries was reached under his presidential mandate.

Fernández reoriented public investment toward social spending projects, prioritizing education and public health. During this period, the economy grew an average of 8% per year, with inflation staying well below double digits (the average around 5.9%) and the exchange rate remained stable. Between 1999 and 2000, economic activity as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 10.8% in real terms. The average interest rate from the commercial bank dropped from 24.2% in September of 1996 to 18.9% in December 1998, which stimulated commercial bank lending.
 
International reserves increased $200.9 million dollars in gross reserves and $268.8 dollars in net reserves between 1996 and 1998. He reduced the foreign debt from $3.875 million dollars as of June 1996 to $3.507 million dollars, a $368 million-dollar reduction, representing a 9.5% decrease. Between 1996 and 1999, commercial bank loans to the private sector increased from RD$34.9 billion Dominican pesos to RD$65.3 billion, as a result of the government’s stable economic indices. 

In the area of social gains, 650,000 new jobs were created, thanks to financing and strengthening micro, small and medium-sized businesses and maintaining a program to hold food costs down with a focus on helping poor neighborhoods. In the education sector, he increased school breakfasts from 300,000 to 1.3 million rations per day. Likewise, his administration oversaw the installation of computer labs in all public schools and increased teachers’ salaries by 50 to 100 percent. He established a monthly Student Merit Award for students who received the highest grades in their classes. He promoted reading and literature through competitions called Reading Olympics and re-launched the International Book Fair of Santo Domingo.

In the public health sector, President Fernandez undertook the decentralization of services and remodeled the hospitals. He also increased the salaries of medical personnel. His government paid special attention to the country’s most vulnerable sectors of the population. Between 1996 and 2000, the Dominican Republic registered a drop in infant mortality. Of every 1,000 live births in 1996, 46 babies died. That number was reduced to 21.3 by the year 2000.
 
When his mandate as president ended in 2000, Dr. Fernández continued his contribution to the development of his country and Latin America through his role as President of the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), a non-profit organization dedicated to researching issues of vital importance to the Dominican Republic and its international context, development of innovative and strategic proposals, design of public policies, improving the quality of the national debate and training human resources.
 
In the face of a serious economic crisis tinged by banks going under, the devaluation of the peso, rising inflation and interest rates, loss of thousands of jobs and the bankruptcy of hundreds of businesses and companies, President Fernandez chose to run for president in the May 16, 2004 elections. He was elected once again with 57% of the vote.

Faced with the challenge of resolving the most intense financial crisis ever experienced in the Dominican Republic, on August 16, 2004 President Fernandez was sworn into office for a second time. The signing the International Monetary Fund’s Stand-By Arrangement to regain fiscal discipline, control spending, create new jobs, increase international reserves, shore up macroeconomic stability while making the country an active member in regional forums and signatory of commercial treaties, restoring faith in basic and higher education and respecting public freedoms and human right are all tangible achievements of the four-year period of 2004-2008, which served to support his re-election with 54% of the vote in the May 16, 2008 elections.

Parallel to his academic, professional and political responsibilities, Fernandez developed an intense schedule as a writer. He authored the following books:
Raíces de un Poder Usurpado (Roots of a Usurped Power); Los Estados Unidos en el Caribe: De la Guerra Fría al Plan Reagan (The United States in the Caribbean: From the Cold War to the Reagan Plan); La República Dominicana hacia el nuevo siglo (The Dominican Republic toward a New Century); La globalización y la República Dominicana (Globalization and the Dominican Republic) and Nuevo Paradigma (New Paradigm). 

His speeches have been compiled in “Temas de Campaña I & II”, and “Discursos I, II, III & IV”. Other books that underscore the contributions of his government include Ningún Gobierno había hecho tanto en tan poco tiempo (Never Has a Government Done so Much in so Little Time); Hablando la gente se entiende (Speaking is Understanding People) and Diez años de una visión, el camino de la modernidad y el progreso (Ten Years of a Vision, The Road to Modernity and Progress).

The third term

Dr. Leonel Fernandez’ last four years in office, 2008 to 2012, were based on three key areas: efficient management of the economy, construction of large infrastructure projects and strong international relations.

The former president consolidated his initiatives aimed at strengthening the internal structures of the country’s institutions and joining a global scheme to enhance the economy and possibilities for development at all levels.

With regard to the management of the economy, the Fernandez administration maintained stability and growth with controlled inflation in the Dominican Republic in the middle of an unprecedented global crisis, something that caught the attention of the international community and earned him many distinctions.

As a result of his strategy, in his third term Fernandez also managed the adoption of a major reform to the Constitution of the Republic, which was proclaimed on January 26, 2010.

Among the notable innovations contained in the document was the inclusion of Article 7, which states that the Dominican Republic is a social and democratic state, which means it is based on respect for human dignity, fundamental rights, work, popular sovereignty and the separation and independence of public powers.

Foreign policy

Similarly, the Fernandez administration developed and implemented an effective strategy to strengthen the country’s international relations and promote foreign investment in the Dominican Republic.

In that vein, the Dominican Republic established formal relations with the Republic of South Africa, the Russian Federation, the Palestinian Authority, and others.

The former president also asserted international leadership to mediate and resolve crises. This area includes his protagonist role at the XX Summit of Presidents of the Rio Group, held in Santo Domingo, which brought about a rapprochement between Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, and Rafael Correa Ecuador.

To this is added his role in the Honduran crisis, when with the mediation of the then Dominican president, the new president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, agreed to the departure of that nation’s ousted president, José Manuel Zelaya, who was received as a guest in Santo Domingo.

Opposing speculation

As part of his active foreign policy, Fernández proposed the creation of a multidisciplinary group for ongoing analysis of the factors affecting the volatility of food and oil prices, in order to work in coordination with the G-20, the United Nations (UN), and all entities concerned with the problem of food security.

In justifying his proposal, Fernandez said that the UN is the only legitimate global forum that can produce binding legislation, conventions or treaties with the member states.

After two and a half months of intensive work by the Dominican delegation to the UN, the UN General Assembly approved by consensus the draft resolution submitted by the Fernandez administration to address financial speculation in the futures markets for oil and food.

But Fernandez also showed his spirit of solidarity for Haiti, a country that on January 12, 2010 was devastated by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that, in just 30 seconds, left a toll of more than 220,000 dead, not counting the missing, the wounded and material damage.

Given the enormous tragedy, many nations of the world, led by the Dominican Republic, immediately expressed their solidarity with Haiti and contributed humanitarian relief and rescue measures.

However, Haiti had had 200 years of tragedy before what happened on that fateful afternoon of January 12. That is why former President Fernández, in June 2010, organized the World Summit on the Future of Haiti, where representatives of the major nations of the world participated in the design of a better future for Haiti.

In Punta Cana, La Altagracia province, where the historic meeting was held, the international community pledged to help the neighboring country forge a better future for their children, helping them to recover from the devastating effects of the earthquake as well as the harmful effects of history.

Infrastructure

In the area of infrastructure, the Fernandez administration performed feats, highlighted by the construction of the first and second lines of the Santo Domingo Metro, giving the country one of the World’s most modern and effective public transport systems.

Moreover, major road works were constructed during the Fernandez administration, such as El Coral Highway, the East Tourist Boulevard, the Atlantic Tourist Boulevard, Pinalito Dam, the Duarte Corridor project, the East motorway, the Santo Domingo–Samaná highway, the Quilvio Cabrera wind farm, and the City of Health.

Despite his many responsibilities as head of state, Fernandez took time out to make his usual intellectual contributions with the publication of two books, a new one and a re-edited one: Años de Formación: Escritos Políticos de Vanguardia [Formative Years: Vanguard Political Writings] and El Delito de Opinión: Censura, ideología y libertad de expression [The Crime of opinion: Censorship, ideology and freedom of expression].

Acknowledgements

In recognition of the contributions he made to the people of Haiti after the earthquake of January 2010, then president of Haiti René Preval decorated Fernández with the Orden Nacional Panamericana Petión y Bolívar, the first time a Dominican leader has received a distinction of this kind by his Haitian counterpart.

The award was made in the Haitian border town of Ouanaminthe (Juana Mendez), adjacent to the Dominican province of Dajabón, as part of a ceremony in which the two leaders re-launched the Joint Bilateral Commission, prior to the formal start of construction, on the outskirts of Cabo Haitiano, of a university donated by the Dominican government to Haiti in solidarity due to the tragedy.

For these same reasons Fernández was recognized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), an entity that underscored the “momentum and leadership” channeled by the former Dominican president in solidarity with the people of Haiti.

In giving this recognition, local UNDP representative Valerie Julliand said that in her 17 years as a member of the UN humanitarian body, never had she seen “a people as supportive” as the Dominicans.

More recently, the Canadian Council for the Americas named Dr. Leonel Fernández the 2012 Statesman of the Year, in recognition of his strong leadership and the achievements made during his three terms and the contributions made to the international community. The ceremony was held on September 20 in Toronto, Canada.

Previously, the former president was honored with the Bravo Awards given by the Latin Trade Magazine of Miami and he was also decorated with the Order of the Quetzal, the highest distinction awarded by the State of Guatemala.

Leonel Fernández Official Page