Years ago, Margarita Cedeño, First Lady from 2004 to 2012, had already stopped using the “de Fernandez” attached to her last name. This led to much speculation as to whether Cedeño had divorced former President Leonel Fernandez. Now it is official. The former Vice President of the Republic (2012-2020) has divorced her husband, Leonel Fernandez. They had married in February 2003. Together they have a daughter, Yolanda America.
The divorce was effective 28 February 2022, lawyer Manuel Fermín confirmed to Diario Libre. The divorce statement was issued by the Sixth Hall of the Civil and Commercial Court of First Instance of the National District that specializes in family affairs. The separation is for mutual agreement.
The request for the divorce was submitted on 21 September 2021.
During the 2020 presidential election campaign, at the time Vice President of the Republic in the Danilo Medina administration, Cedeño had backed her then husband’s aspirations during the pre-campaign. Danilo Medina and her husband Leonel Fernandez have maintained strong political aspiration differences after Leonel Fernandez did not back Medina’s presidential aspirations in the early years of the PLD hegemony.
When the then ruling Dominican Liberation Party chose Gonzalo Castillo as its presidential candidate, and Leonel Fernandez left the party, Cedeño stayed with the PLD. She then was named the vice presidential candidate for the PLD ticket – Gonzalo Castillo-Margarita Cedeño. The duo lost to the Modern Revolutionary Party’s Luis Abinader-Raquel Peña candidacies.
Margarita Cedeño is now campaigning to be the presidential candidate for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD). Leonel Fernandez is campaigning to be the presidential candidate for the Fuerza del Pueblo (FP), the party he founded when he split from the PLD after accusing the party of rigging the electronic primaries carried out by the party in October 2020. Thousands seek to reunite the PLD and the FP again and Margarita Cedeño understands she is the candidate that unifies the followers.
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Diario Libre
Hoy
10 March 2021