Dr. Leonel Fernandez
Constitutional President of the Dominican Republic,
Founder and Honorary President of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (FUNGLODE), President of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD).
Biographical Information
Dr. Leonel Fernandez, current (2004-2008) and former (1996-2000) Constitutional President of the Dominican Republic is the founder and honorary president of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (FUNGLODE), president efunmeritus of the United Nations Association of the Dominican Republic (UNA-DR), and President of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD).
He was recently re-elected President of the Dominican Republic, winning the May 2004 election by the largest popular majority in history. He assumed the Presidency on August 16, 2004.
President Fernandez is a member of various foreign councils and institutions, including Círculo de Montevideo; the Carter Center’s Council of Freely Elected Government Heads; Inter-American Dialogue; and the Club of Madrid. He presides over the U.S.-Caribbean Executive Club, organized and sponsored by the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.
President Fernandez has been awarded Honoris Causa Degrees by various renowned universities, including the Sorbonne University (1999); Harvard University (1999); Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña Seton Hall University (2000); and Lehman College (2002).
Dr. Fernandez was born on December 26, 1953, in Santo Domingo. As a child, he moved with his family to New York City, where he spent his first school years and also attended high school. When he returned to the Dominican Republic, he enrolled at Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) (Autonomous University of Santo Domingo). In 1978, he earned his degree of Juris Doctor with honors, winning the “J. Humberto Doucudray” award for being the best student of his class.
As a professor at UASD and Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences), he distinguished himself with his work in the fields of communication, sociology, freedom of the press, and foreign relations. His published works include: Los Estados Unidos en el Caribe: De la Guerra Fría al Plan Reagan, and Raíces de un Poder Usurpado.
In 1994, Dr. Fernandez was chosen by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) as candidate for the country’s vice presidency and Professor Juan Bosch’s running mate. Later, in the party primary, Dr. Fernandez was elected by an overwhelming majority as its presidential candidate for the 1996 election, which he won after a vibrant political campaign. He became his political party’s first Head of State and one of the youngest statesmen in Latin America.
After leaving office in 2000, Dr. Fernandez continued to contribute to the development of the Dominican Republic and the Latin American region as founder and president of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (FUNGLODE), an international nonprofit institution established to analyze vital national interests, propose strategic plans to enhance the quality of the national debate, and improve the level of training and education in the country. The FUNGLODE conducts and hosts research, conferences, seminars, workshops and training in the field of democratization; economic and social development ; education; the environment and natural resources; science and technology; public opinion and mass media; globalization, regional integration, and foreign relations. The FUNGLODE also fosters global partnerships for development with academic institutions, civil society, the private and public sectors and the Dominican Diaspora.
