Who Is Panama President Varela?
President Varela & First Lady On Induction Day
A Few Personal Details
Juan Carlos Varela, 50, is from one of Panama's richest families. The family owns and operates the country's biggest liquor producer, Varela Hermanos S.A., which was established in 1908.
Varela graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1985 with a BA in industrial engineering.
He is married to the journalist Lorena Castillo and has three children.
Varela has been on the board of the family business since 1985 and was executive vice president of the company until 2008.
He started in politics in the 1990s. In 1994 he become chief of political campaigns for the Panama's 2nd largest party, the Panameñista Party. In 2006 he became the head of the party and then the Panameñista Party's 2009 presidential candidate.
In a bold move, Varela withdrew his 2009 presidential candidacy to throw his conservative Panamenista party's support behind Martinelli. He did this in exchange for becoming Martinelli's vice-presidential candidate. It was a successful move. On May 3, 2009, was sworn in as Vice-President of Panama.
As Vice President, Varela was the architect of the government's popular "100 for 70″ program. The program gives $100 monthly to Panamanians over age 70 who do not receive any other pension or retirement benefits.
Foe of Martinelli
But the political marriage didn't last. In 2011, Martinelli stripped Varela of his role as foreign minister for refusing to back a plan for a referendum to allow president's to serve consecutive terms. (Note: Panama law requires that a president cannot run for president again until 2 terms (10 years) have passed since he or she last held office.)
Since that rupture, Martinelli and Varela have been fierce critics of the other. Varela has accused Martinelli of many corruption charges including taking kickbacks for a government radar system contract with Italy's Finmeccanica.
2014 Election & Martinelli's Fight To Retain Power
It was one of the toughest-fought contests since democracy was restored two decades ago.
Election day began with opinion polls indicating a tight race among the top 3 candidates. However, not one of the pollsters had Varela in the lead. Most gave a slight edge to Arias.
Martinelli was extremely eager for his protege and political newcomer, Jose Domingo Arias to win.
Many people think Martinelli's endorsement of Arias was really a badly disguised ploy to retain his political power.
Although, blood relatives of the president are banned from running for the top 2 offices, Martinelli's wife, Marta Linares, ran as Arias's vice presidential candidate. Technically legal, since Linares is not a blood relative; but not surprisingly, there were many cries of illegality.
In addition, sitting presidents are banned from campaigning for a presidential candidate. Martinelli defied this injunction and campaigned for Arias furiously throughout the country.
Varela was a surprise upset.
Varela won the presidency with 39 percent of the vote, compared to 32 percent for outgoing President Martinell's choice, Jose Arias. Juan Carlos Navarro, a former mayor of the capital, got 28 percent to finish third in the seven-candidate field.
The win is being interpreted as a rebuke to Martinelli.
Verela was sworn into office for a 5 year term on July 1, 2014.
Martinelli's initial reaction was, "May God help us". Since then he has calmed down and mouthed all the usual and expected political niceties.
While Varela won the presidency, his party did not win the legislature.
He takes office with a legislative minority. This will make it harder for him to pass free-market legislation. He will have to negotiate with the centrist and center-left politicians that currently dominate Panama's Congress.
Panama's Future With Varela
Varela promised upon taking office to take immediately steps to reduce violence and control the price of food.
He did both. On Induction Day, he signed into law price controls on 22 common food items such as rice, milk, and beef. The controls start today, July 7th, and last for 6 months.
He has also granted a one month amnesty for gang members to allow them to turn in their weapons.
During his campaign Varela has vowed to continue Martinelli's drive to improve Panama's infrastructure. Continual progress in improving infrastructure was the most cited reason for President Martinelli's 60 percent approval rating.
But he also vowed to boost transparency. It is a common perception that much of the $15 billion spent on infrastructure upgrades was lost to corruption and poor planning.
Of course he has also committed to maintaining the country's record-low unemployment rate and strong economic growth. Growth that has averaged over 8 percent in recent years.
His biggest theme is his pledge to govern with honesty and transparency.
I hope it is true and I wish him luck.