Leonel Fernandez
| Leonel Fernández | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 50th & 52nd President of the Dominican Republic | |
|
In office 16 August 2004 – 16 August 2012 |
|
| Vice President | Rafael Alburquerque |
| Preceded by | Hipólito Mejía |
| Succeeded by | Danilo Medina |
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In office 16 August 1996 – 16 August 2000 |
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| Vice President | Jaime David Fernández Mirabal |
| Preceded by | Joaquín Balaguer |
| Succeeded by | Hipólito Mejía |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna 26 December 1953 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Political party | Liberation |
| Spouse(s) | Rocío Domínguez (m. 1987–d. 1996) Margarita Cedeño (m. 2003–present) |
| Alma mater | Autonomous University of Santo Domingo |
| Signature |  |
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (
Pronunciation of "Leonel Fernández") (born 26 December 1953) is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and was President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012. Since January 2016, he is the President of the EU-LAC Foundation.
Fernández became the first elected president of the Dominican Republic under his political party, the Dominican Liberation Party ("Partido de la Liberación Dominicana" in Spanish, PLD), although party founder Juan Bosch was also sworn in as president in 1963 after the first democratic elections held in roughly four decades in the country. Fernández's administrations have focused much on technological and infrastructural development and macroeconomic and monetary stability (no hyperinflationary crisis has occurred under Fernández and PLD administrations).
He is a native of Villa Juana, Distrito Nacional and lived for much of his childhood and early adulthood in New York City.
Fernandez is the son of José Antonio Fernández Collado and Yolanda Reyna Romero. His family moved to New York City in the United States. They lived most of the time in the Washington Heights neighborhood. It has a dense neighborhood dominated by ethnic Dominicans.
After he finished high school, Fernandez returned to his country and started Law Studies in the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo. He joined the Dominican Liberation Party when it was founded in 1973 by former Dominican President Juan Bosch. He had left the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) to create the new party. Fernández was known as a close pupil of Bosch. He accompanied him as a vice-presidential candidate in the 1994 presidential election.
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