Mireya Moscoso

Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez (Pedasí, July 1, 1946) is a Panamanian politician. She was the first and so far the only woman to hold the Presidency of the Republic of Panama, for the constitutional period from September 1, 1999 to August 31, 2004.

Biography

Early Years

She was born on July 1, 1946 in the community of Pedasí (Panama), and graduated as an interior decorator from Miami Dade Community College. At the age of 18, she married the Panamanian doctor and politician Arnulfo Arias Madrid, who was 63 years old and who was President of the Republic three times, the last time in 1968 when he was overthrown by a military rebellion led by Major Boris Martínez and seconded by by Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos Herrera.

Political life

Named herself the political heir of her late husband, she took over the presidency of Arnulfo Arias's party, after re-registering the political party, custodian of the Panameñista doctrine, in a single day in the early 1990s, changing its name to Arnulfista Party. She participated in the 1994 presidential elections, where the former president [Ernesto Pérez Balladares] was victorious, by a narrow margin in the most transparent elections to date in the country's history. However, it reorganized and participated again in 1999, this time achieving overwhelming victory in the presidential elections, capitalizing on the opposition forces and the disenchantment of the grassroots membership of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) with the presumed Torrijista-line government. - and thus becoming the first female president of the country.

Presidency (1999-2004)

Mireya Moscoso next to U.S. President George W. Bush and his counterpart from Argentina Fernando de la Rúa at the Summit of the Americas in 2001.

Mireya Moscoso in 2003.

Moscoso won the elections on Sunday, May 2, 1999 with 42% of the vote. During the first years of his administration, he had to face a strong economic slowdown promoted by the withdrawal of the population residing in the Panama Canal zone in compliance with the Torrijos Carter Treaties. The president directed her objective to address rural issues, she focused the work of the Social Investment Fund (FIS) on the construction of penetration roads, rural wells, the creation of self-sustaining production farms and community electrification.

His government achieved good communication with the educators unions, with whom it reached an agreement to modernize the educational system. He built a new museum in the capital for children. He rebuilt and equipped the Santo Tomás Hospital, the main public health care center in the country and a distinguished work of his administration, he also rebuilt and equipped the José Domingo de Obaldía Hospital, a modern hospital in the province of Chiriquí.

During this presidential term, Moscoso had to celebrate one of the biggest events in the recent history of Panama, the total surrender of sovereignty of the Panama Canal as stipulated in the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Mireya Moscoso, along with Jimmy Carter were the protagonists of the act held at noon on December 31, 1999.

The government of President Mireya Moscoso transformed the administrative system of several public institutions, modernizing them and putting them at the forefront of the XXI century. The most important of all was the Tocumen International Airport, which became a 100% state owned corporation, added to this, an important renovation of the airport infrastructure. She also created the Old Town Office, an office in charge of caring, maintaining and promoting this monumental historic neighborhood of Panama City.

His administration developed a tax reform plan that focused taxation on consumption. For the first time in Panama, articles considered luxury such as yachts, high-end vehicles and other products of this type were taxed with an additional rate to the 5% existing at the time.

During his administration, the Miss Universe 2003 contest was held, which represented an unprecedented springboard for tourism in the country; Since that event, the country's tourist explosion has not stopped. That same year the Centennial of the Republic was celebrated, where the City was transformed to become the epicenter of American culture. Mireya Moscoso stood out greatly for the great support she gave to all these festivities and in 2002 the Panamanian representative Justine Pasek was the winner of the 2002 Miss Universe contest.

Shortly after his presidential term ended, he inaugurated the second bridge over the Panama Canal, Puente Centenario, however, it was widely questioned that he inaugurated it before the work was completed.

During the 5 years in office, the Government of Moscoso made public investments for five billion dollars, funds directed mainly to social and rural programs to offer a better quality of life to the population in the interior of the country.

Six days before the end of his term, Moscoso caused a major international scandal when, following the guidelines of the US diplomatic mission in Panama, he pardoned the terrorists Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jiménez, Pedro Remón and Guillermo Novo Sampol, captured in Panama when trying to assassinate Fidel Castro during his visit to Panama at the Ibero-American Summit in this country. This action led Cuba and Venezuela to break diplomatic relations with Panama. Factions of the Cuban dissidence based in Miami apparently thanked the confessed anti-Cuban terrorists arrested in Panama for pardoning.^{[citation needed]}