Leonel Fernández
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna | |
|---|---|
| File:Fleonel.jpg | |
| President of the Dominican Republic | |
| Assumed office 16 August 1996 - 16 August 2000 14 August 2004 - Present | |
| Vice President | Rafael Alburquerque |
| Preceded by | Joaquín Balaguer (1996) Hipólito Mejía (2004) |
| Succeeded by | Hipólito Mejía (2000) Incumbent - Present |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 26 1953 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Political party | Dominican Liberation Party |
| Spouse | Margarita Cedeño de Fernández |
Dr. Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (born 26 December 1953) is a Dominican politician and the former president of the Dominican Republic. He was born in Santo Domingo but spent his childhood and formative years in New York City, USA
He joined the PLD (see further below) at its inception in 1973, when the late Juan Bosch left the PRD party to create the new party. Fernández was a close pupil of Bosch, and was presented as a vice-president candidate with the latter during the 1994 presidential elections.
First Presidential Period (1996-2000)
He served a four-year term as president between 1996 and 2000. In the first-round election on 16 May 1996 he polled 38.9% and was placed second behind José Francisco Peña Gómez of the left-leaning Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). In the second round on 30 June, however, he secured 51.2% of the votes to win the election and was subsequently sworn in as president on 16 August, succeeding incumbent president President Joaquín Balaguer of the Christian Democratic PRSC. It was the alliance of Joaquín Balaguer and Leonel Fernández that helped secure the presidency for Fernández and his PLD party. During his term in office, Fernández's political agenda was one of economic and judicial reform. He helped enhance Dominican participation in hemispheric forums, such as the Organization of American States and the Miami Summit follow-up mechanism. During Fernández's first term, the Dominican economy enjoyed an average growth rate of seven per cent, the highest growth rate in that period, along with countries like South Korea. Inflation was stabilized in the low single digits, the lowest in all of Latin America. His achievements in this area though, were not felt by the vast majority of poor Dominicans who complained constantly of unfair distribution of wealth. This led to a massive victory by PRD party in mid-term congressional elections.
At the end of his mandate, he was succeeded by Hipólito Mejía of the PRD, who at that moment incarnated the people's desires to a more fair distribution of wealth.
Second Presidential Period (2004-2008)
After a four-year hiatus, he was elected to a second term of office in the presidential election held on 16 May 2004 with an absolute majority, representing the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), greatly due to the precarious situation the country's economy found itself in after the bankruptcy due to fraudulent actions of three of the biggest banks in the country: Banco Intercontinental (BanInter), BanCrédito and Banco Mercantil, during president Hipólito Mejía's administration.
(Fernadez, however, was legal counsel for BanInter and sat on its board of directors, which many point to as a reason why his administration has been reticent to take further action against BanInter and its officials.) He was sworn in on 16 August 2004. While some may perceive Fernandez as a forward and innovative thinker, others complain that his tight focus on technological development is often at the expense of basic needs such as food, health, and education.
He is often accused of violating civil rights and the freedom of expression, which was manifested in the prohibition of civil forums and manifestations, such as "La Otra Feria" (a response to a pharaonic fair paid with public funds to celebrate the ten years of Fernandez´s first rise to power), although the event was realized later after a lot of pressure of the population. He also prohibited a citizen forum in October 19, 20 and 21 of 2006, but the participants moved it to another place, and it was also realized, even though it was against the will of the Dominican government.
The Santo Domingo Metro (Santo Domingo's subway), one of his most controversial projects, has caused a lot of criticism against his administration. Even though it will ultimately benefit the chaotic transport system of the capital city of the Dominican Republic, Fernández has spent a lot of resources on this, while neglecting education and health. In recent days, the Secretary of Education, Alejandrina Germán, said that Education was lacking certain funds, and it was found that said money was being used for the construction of the subway. [citation needed]
Fernández is the author of several books on several topics including politics and economics.
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