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Alberto Fernandez (diplomat)

Alberto Miguel Fernandez[1] (born 1958) is a Cuban-American former diplomat. He was the head of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), which includes Alhurra.[2] Fernandez is currently vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, a position he held 2015–2017.[3] He is a member of the Madrid Forum, an international group of right-wing and far-right individuals organized by Vox.[4]

Alberto Fernandez

Alberto Miguel Fernandez

1958

American

Diplomat (formerly)

Awards and honors[edit]

Fernandez is a recipient of a Presidential Meritorious Service Award for 2008, the State Department's 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, a Superior Honor Award in 2003 for his work in Afghanistan, and the 1996 Linguist of the Year Award, among many others. He has written for The Lamp (magazine),[17] The American Conservative, the Foreign Service Journal, MEMRI,[18] Journal of International Security Affairs, The Cipher Brief, AFPC Almanac of Islamism, The Washington Post,[19] Providence,[20] Georgetown Cornerstone,[21] Brookings Markaz,[22] Middle East Quarterly, The European Conservative,[23] The American Mind,[24] Defense Dossier,[25] IM1776[26] ReVista the Harvard Review of Latin America, University Bookman[27] and Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society. He has also lectured at numerous U.S. universities and presented papers at conferences of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID). Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Florida, he is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Defense Language Institute. Fluent in Arabic (4/3+), Spanish (5/5) and English, is married and has two sons.[28]

1958 - born in Havana, Cuba.

1959 - arrived in Miami, Florida, as a refugee.

1976 - serves in US Army and Reserves till 1981.

1981 - receives BA in Middle East Studies from the University of Arizona.

1983 - MA in Middle East Studies from the University of Arizona. Joined the United States Information Agency. Served as a Junior Officer in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

1986 - Press Attaché at the US Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua.

1988 - Public Affairs Officer at US Embassy in Kuwait.

1990 - Country Affairs Officer for Egypt, Yemen, and Sudan in the USIA/NEA Area Office, Washington DC.

1993 - Public Affairs Counselor in Damascus, Syria.

1996 - Public Affairs Counselor in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

1999 - Public Affairs Counselor in Amman, Jordan.

2002 - Public Affairs Counselor in Kabul, Afghanistan.

2004 - stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on a one-year posting. (possible conflict between references on Kabul posting dates)

[29]

2005 July - appointed Director for Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

2006 October - Apologises for "US arrogance and stupidity in Iraq" comments.

2006 November - wins the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy.

[30]

2007 June - Charge D'affaires, U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan

2009 July - Nominated as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea; confirmed by the US Senate on December 24, 2009.

[31]

2012 March - Coordinator for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC).

2015 May - retires from the Department of State.

2015 May - Vice-president, MEMRI.

2017 July - President, Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN).

2020 June - Returns to MEMRI as vice president.

Voice of America US Push for Democracy in Middle East Going Through Slow Phase 19 April, 2006 photo of Fernandez

(House Foreign Affairs Committee testimony, August 2012).

https://web.archive.org/web/20121212001629/http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/112/HHRG-112-FA18-WState-FernandezA-20120802.pdf

on C-SPAN

Appearances