Leonel Fernández, Dominican lawyer and politician, 51st President of the Dominican Republic
Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (Pronunciation of "Leonel Fernández") (born December 26, 1953) is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and was the 50th and 52nd 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, or 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. He has served as the party president of the Dominican Liberation Party from 2001 until his resignation on October 20, 2019 . He later joined the People’s Force and was nominated as it’s party’s presidential nominee.He is a native of Villa Juana, Distrito Nacional and lived for much of his childhood and early adulthood in New York City.
Leonel Fernández is the President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.