33 Facts About Guillermo Endara

Guillermo David Endara Galimany was a Panamanian politician who served as the president of Panama from 1989 to 1994.

Guillermo Endara later received a law degree in Panama and subsequently served as a member of Panama's National Assembly, and briefly as a government minister before heading into exile again following Arias' third overthrow in 1968.

Guillermo Endara was sworn in as the new president on the first night of the invasion on a US military base.

Guillermo Endara's term saw steady economic growth and a return of democratic institutions, but high unemployment rates.

Guillermo Endara's administration was marked by internal fighting, and his popularity plummeted.

Guillermo Endara was succeeded by opposition candidate Ernesto Perez Balladares in 1994.

Guillermo Endara ran for office again in 2004 and 2009, but lost to Democratic Revolutionary Party candidate Martin Torrijos and to independent candidate Ricardo Martinelli.

Guillermo Endara died of a heart attack in September 2009, several months after his last campaign.

Guillermo Endara's father, Guillermo Endara Paniza, was an ally of Authentic Panamenista Party founder Arnulfo Arias, and the family went into exile after Arias was overthrown in a 1941 coup.

Guillermo Endara went to school in Argentina and to Black-Foxe Military Institute in Los Angeles in the United States, where he was described as being a "brilliant student".

Guillermo Endara later attended the University of Panama Law School, where he graduated first in his class, and New York University.

Guillermo Endara returned to Panama in 1963 to practice law, and specialized in labor law.

Guillermo Endara co-founded the firm of Solis, Endara, Delgado and Guevara, one of Panama's most successful law firms.

Guillermo Endara won his first public office in 1964 but declined to take it due to evidence of voter fraud in the election.

In 1968, Guillermo Endara served as minister of planning and economic policy during Arias's very brief third term as president.

Guillermo Endara remained politically engaged and when Arias died in 1988, Guillermo Endara became a leading opposition figure.

Guillermo Endara's rival was Carlos Duque, a candidate selected by Noriega.

The US government contributed $10 million to Panamanian opposition campaigns, though it was unknown whether Guillermo Endara received any of this money.

The next day, Endara and his running mates, Ricardo Arias Calderon and Guillermo Ford, led a contingent of a thousand supporters to protest the annulment of the elections and urge that the ADOC candidates be recognized as the winners.

Guillermo Endara was struck with an iron club, leaving a gash on his head.

Guillermo Endara had by this time taken refuge in the military bases under US control.

Guillermo Endara was certified the winner of the election and inaugurated at Fort Clayton, a United States military base, on December 20,1989.

Guillermo Endara oversaw a reform of the Panamanian Defense Forces, purging Noriega loyalists, asserting the primacy of the civilian government, and returning the group from military to a national police force.

In October 1994, the National Assembly passed an amendment abolishing the military at Guillermo Endara's urging, becoming the second Latin American country to do so.

Guillermo Endara responded that Arias's resignation was "demagoguery" and "merely starting his 1994 political campaign ahead of time".

In 2004, Guillermo Endara broke with the Arnulfista party over differences of opinion with the party's leader, Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso, and accused the party of corruption.

Guillermo Endara ran in the 2004 presidential election as the candidate of the Solidarity Party, on a platform of reducing crime and government corruption.

Guillermo Endara later founded his own political party, the Moral Vanguard of the Fatherland, and in 2009 was again a candidate for the Panamanian general elections.

Just a few months later, on September 28,2009, Guillermo Endara died at the age of 73 in his apartment in Panama City, of a heart attack while preparing dinner.

Guillermo Endara married his first wife Marcela, in 1961; the couple had one daughter, Marcelita, and three grandchildren, Javier, Marcela Victoria and Jacob.

Marcela died of a heart attack in 1989 while Guillermo Endara was hospitalized from the attack by the Dignity Brigades.

Guillermo Endara remarried on June 11,1990, at the age of 54, to Ana Mae Diaz Chen, a 22-year-old law student of Chinese origin.

Guillermo Endara was reportedly so happy in the marriage that he would even leave cabinet meetings for "a quick cuddle".