Investigative journalist Nuria Piera reports that a deputy for Santiago province for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM), Luis René Fernández, uses two names and two identity cards. She presented evidence he has an identity as Luis René Fernández Tavárez and another as Luis René Guzmán Fernández
As reported, the deputy was registered at birth as Luis René Guzmán Fernández by his parents Luis María Guzmán Peña and Beatriz del Carmen Fernández Gómez on 25 April 1981. Yet, when he already was an adult, in 2001 he was registered again, this time with the special procedure of late registration. He was registered the second time as having been born on 16 August 1985 to José Feliz Fernández Gómez and Miledy Antonia Tavarez Gómez, his real parents using the other identities.
As reported on the TV program, his father used the identity of his late brother-in-law Jose Feliz Fernández Gómez and his mother took the identity of her cousin, Miledy Antonia Tavárez Gómez to register the child the second time around. At the time the today deputy was 20 years old, but was registered as being four years younger.
On the Channel 9 news program aired on Saturday, 26 June 2021, Nuria Piera interviewed lawyer Luis Enrique Peña who says the deputy could be charged for electoral crime under electoral law and identity crime under the Penal Code. He says the seat in Congress could be annulled depending on actions the Attorney General would need to take. Lawyer Peña says it is an unprecedented case. He says the JCE should act.
Lawyer Valerio said on the TV program that the deputy could face up to five years in jail for forged documentation. In his opinion, the seat in Congress should be annulled for electoral voter fraud.
The deputy did not accept to be interviewed for the program to give his side of why he has two identities. When Piera was able to catch the deputy on camera when he was at a session at the Chamber of Deputies, the deputy responded saying his real name was Luis Rene Fernández Tavárez, and promised to give an interview, which did not happen in time for the program.
Piera speculates the change of identity was carried out to eventually secure the US citizenship that the deputy today holds.
Piera reports that the family of the deputy had betting shops that later would be sold to another betting shop company.
A note on Noticias.do reports the deputy says his last names are Fernández Tavarez. He faults the JCE for not erasing the first birth declaration that had been published with errors. He says his father was a US resident who proved he was their son with a DNA test that led to his receiving US residency first and later US citizenship. The deputy insists the second birth certificate should have been sufficient to override the first.
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N Digital
28 June 2021