Guillermo Cochez is a Panamanian politician and lawyer who served as the former representative of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

to the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

(OAS) between 2009 and 2013.

Education

Cochez attended a primary and high school run by the La Salle Christian Brothers. For his college studies, he attended the

University of Panama The University of Panama ( es, Universidad de Panamá) was founded on October 7, 1935. Initially, it had 175 students learning education, commerce, natural sciences, pharmacy, pre-engineering or law. , it had 74,059 students distributed in 228 b ...

for his law degree and later attended

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

where he received a Masters of Civil Law.

Career

Law

When Cochez returned to Panama, he established his own law practice and began to teach at the University of Panama's law school. Following his involvement in government office, Cochez returned to practicing law and focused on Panamanian banking and financial laws.

Mayor of Panama City

Following the fall of the

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritaria ...

dictatorship in 1989, Cochez was chosen as Mayor of

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

where he served until 1991.

Organization of American States (OAS)

He was removed from his position after an outburst during a January 17, 2013 OAS session, in which he referred to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

as a “classic dictatorship” and a “sick democracy”. He claimed Venezuelan president

Hugo Chavez Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...

was dead, citing his delayed inauguration as a way for the government to buy themselves time for a re-election. Human rights groups, such as the

Human Rights Foundation The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting and protecting human rights globally, with an emphasis on closed societies. HRF organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. The Human Rights Foundation was founded in ...

have expressed support for Cochez, calling him "a loss for the OAS" and referring to him as "the only Latin American diplomat who dared to challenge the legitimacy of the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n government". After being removed from his position with the OAS, Cochez continues to speak out on immigration issues affecting the Americas. In 2017, in regards to the end of the "wet-foot dry-foot" immigration policy that allowed Cuban immigrants to stay in the US, if they reached the mainland, Cochez noted that the end of the policy would, "be an additional burden for the Panamanian government and for all Central American governments that have "Cubans in transit to the United States."

Awards and recognition

* 2013 – The Francisco de Miranda Award from the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

References

External links

Twitter page
Living people Permanent Representatives of Panama to the Organization of American States 1945 births Tulane University alumni {{Panama-diplomat-stub