Son of Ángel Fernández and Casimira Caballero, he studied law at the University of San Francisco Xavier and dedicated himself fully to his profession.

As a lawyer, he worked closely with the big mining companies and made his fortune, especially with silver tycoons like Gregorio Pacheco, Aniceto Arce, and Francisco Argandoña.

[3] A disgruntled Liberal Party had become increasingly frustrated during the many years of Conservative dominance, often attained by electoral fraud.

[5] Throughout Fernández's presidency, the center of power in the country shifted to La Paz, where the Liberals had a lot of support.

Hence, Congress met, between 1825 and 1900, on twenty-nine occasions in Sucre, twenty in La Paz, seven in Oruro, two in Cochabamba and one in Tapacarí.

However, their La Paz counterparts proposed that the Congress should move to Cochabamba (a neutral place), a proposition which was rejected.

The liberals had don so strategically since if they vetoed they would provoke the inhabitants of the capital, however, if it was approved they could convince the people and the garrison of La Paz (under the orders of Colonel José Manuel Pando) to mount an insurrection.

In response, on 12 December, with the people of La Paz in their favor, a Federal Board of Liberals and some authorities who switched sides (the Prefect and Commander General Serapio Reyes Ortiz and the Minister of Instruction Macario Pinilla) was formed.

[7] Fernández decided to march on La Paz with the three divisions stationed in Sucre (Bolívar, Junín and Hussars).

[6] In Potosí, the population was openly against helping the government forces, meanwhile in Santa Cruz and Tarija there was a clearly neutral stance.

[7] The decisive confrontation of the civil war was the battle of the Segundo Crucero, on 10 April 1899, where the president and Pando met.