vicepresident predecessor successor birth_place party birth_date order term_start spouse article_title term_end name alma_mater
tomas altamirano duque guillermo endara mireya moscoso panama city , panama democratic revolutionary party -lrb- prd -rrb- 29 june 1946 president of panama september 1 , 1994 dora boyd ernesto pérez balladares
 september 1 , 1999 ernesto pérez balladares gonzález-revilla university of notre dame university of pennsylvania
ernesto pérez balladares

ernesto pérez balladares gonzález-revilla -lrb- born june 29 , 1946 in panama city -rrb- , nicknamed `` el toro '' -lrb- `` the bull '' -rrb- , 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 -lrb- prd -rrb- , 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 .
