María Isabel Fernández Suárez (born 10 March 1980) is a Bolivian journalist and politician who served as minister of communication from January to June 2020. Fernández was the final official to serve in that post, with the Ministry of Communication being abolished during her term. She subsequently served as vice minister of communication from June 2020 until the conclusion of the transitional government of

Jeanine Áñez Jeanine Áñez Chávez (; born 13 June 1967) is a Bolivian lawyer, politician, and television presenter who served as the 66th president of Bolivia from 2019 to 2020. A former member of the Social Democratic Movement, she previously served two ...

in November 2020.

Early life and career

Isabel Fernández was born on 10 March 1980 in

Oruro Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level. It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...

. Fernández attended the Bolivian Catholic University, where she initially majored in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

before switching to

communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

, inspired by her mother's staff work for Radio Pío XII. After completing her degree, Fernández traveled to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, where she completed two master's degrees in digital marketing at the

King Juan Carlos University Rey Juan Carlos University (RJC University) (, URJC) is a Spanish public research university located in the southern area of the Community of Madrid (Spain), with five campuses at Móstoles, Alcorcón, Vicálvaro, Aranjuez and Fuenlabrada. It ...

and the European Postgraduate Institute. Upon returning to Bolivia, Fernández entered the field of journalism, working on the staff of PAT. After that, she worked as a journalist for a variety of media outlets, including

ATB ATB or atb may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ATB (DJ) (born 1973), German DJ and music producer * Active Time Battle, a role-playing video game mechanic * Andy Timmons Band, a band led by guitarist Andy Timmons * Atelier-Théâtre Burkinab ...

and UNITEL, for approximately sixteen years. Throughout her career, Fernández was an active

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

during periods of intense social unrest; she likened the experience to " eing ina lion's cage with a lion inside... for me it was pure adrenaline...". Prior to serving as minister, Fernández was serving as the deputy press officer for UNITEL-La Paz, a post she held from 2006.

Minister of Communication

On 28 January 2020, transitional president

appointed Fernández minister of communication, replacing Roxana Lizárraga, who resigned days prior in protest of Áñez's decision to run for president rather than oversee a neutral interim government. Fernández remained in her post until 4 June, when the Áñez administration announced its decision to abolish three ministries—communication,

cultures Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, and sports—and two embassies in order to conserve public resources in the face of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Áñez characterized these offices as "unnecessary charges", "absurd expenses", and "pure waste" generated by the previous government. The functions of the abolished Ministry of Communication were transferred to the newly established Vice Ministry of Communication, a component of the

Ministry of the Presidency The Ministry of the Presidency (MPR) was the Spanish government departments, department of the Government of Spain that, from 1974 to 2023, assured the link between the different Ministries and the Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister and it w ...

. On 10 June, Yerko Núñez, the minister responsible for said portfolio, appointed Fernández to serve as vice minister of communication. Upon being sworn in, Fernández committed to " nsuringstrict compliance with access to information, its transparent management, and freedom of expression" in her new post. She also assured that

state media State media are typically understood as media outlets that are owned, operated, or significantly influenced by the government. They are distinguished from public service media, which are designed to serve the public interest, operate independent ...

would not be used as an instrument of

political pressure Pressure politics generally refers to political action which relies heavily on the use of mass media and mass communications to persuade politicians that the public wants or demands a particular action. However, it can also refer to intimidation, t ...

on journalists. In previous weeks, Fernández had been criticized for withdrawing government advertising from Gigavisión after the channel's director, Junior Arias, had made allegations of corruption within various government departments. Fernández denied any wrongdoing, assuring that the channel lacked high enough ratings to justify continued investment. With the dissolution of the Ministry of Communication came the termination of all officials who worked within it. Upon assuming leadership over the Vice Ministry of Communication, Fernández announced that her department would only rehire "the people that are needed". She asserted that the now-abolished ministry held "too many officials", many of whom were "not necessary" and spent their entire shifts without performing a single function. On the other hand, some thirty former employees protested that they had been fired illegally despite enjoying

job security Job security is the probability that an individual will keep their job; a job with a high level of security is such that a person with the job would have a small chance of losing it. Many factors threaten job security: globalization, outsourcing ...

or being guaranteed reinstatement. Others stated that they had not been paid their owed wages months after being fired. Fernández remained in office for the duration of the transitional government. She submitted her resignation on 6 November, two days prior to the inauguration of President-elect

Luis Arce Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (; born 28 September 1963), often referred to as Lucho, is a Bolivian banker, economist, and politician serving as the 67th president of Bolivia since 2020. A member of the Movement for Socialism (Bolivia), Movement fo ...

. In her letter of resignation, Fernández stated that "all these months were very complex, but the satisfaction of duty fulfilled with commitment and loyalty to... the country remains".

References

Notes

Footnotes

External links

Ministerial profile
Ministry of Communication . Archived fro
the original
on 11 May 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Isabel 1980 births Living people 21st-century Bolivian politicians 21st-century Bolivian women politicians Áñez administration cabinet members Bolivian journalists Bolivian television journalists Bolivian women journalists Communication ministers of Bolivia Deputy government ministers of Bolivia People from Oruro, Bolivia Women government ministers of Bolivia King Juan Carlos University alumni