About Ernesto Pérez Balladares
Ernesto Pérez Balladares González-Revilla (born June 29, 1946), nicknamed El Toro ("The Bull"), is a Panamanian politician who was the president of Panama between 1994 and 1999. Educated in the United States, Pérez Balladares worked as a banker before becoming part of the government of military ruler Omar Torrijos; in 1989, he also served as campaign manager for the pro-Manuel Noriega presidential candidate Carlos Duque. He was elected president in 1994 as the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), in a close three-way race with Arnulfista Party candidate Mireya Moscoso and salsa singer Ruben Blades. Pérez Balladares' term was notable for free-market reforms and the privatization of government services. He also rehabilitated a number of officials from the Noriega years and sought a closer alliance with the United States than the previous administration of Guillermo Endara. Following a failed constitutional referendum to allow him a second term in office, Pérez Balladares was succeeded by Moscoso in 1999. In 2009, prosecutors opened an investigation into charges of corruption dating to Pérez Balladares' time in office. He was placed under house arrest the following year, making him the first former Panamanian president to be arrested, and in October 2010 was charged with money laundering. A judge dismissed the charge against him in April 2011. In February 2012, Pérez Balladares was convicted of slandering comptroller Alvin Weeden by calling him a narcocriminal, and sentenced to a $3,000 fine or a year in prison. Other unpopular actions by Pérez Balladares included giving $35 million in back pay to Noriega's paramilitary Dignity Battalions and doubling the salaries of his cabinet despite the country's ongoing poverty. He ultimately won the election with 33% of the vote, with Moscoso receiving 29% and Blades receiving 17%.
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