José Ramón Guizado Valdés (13 August 1899 – 2 November 1965) was the 17th

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

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 Co ...

. He belonged to the National Patriotic Coalition (CNP).

Education

Guizado is an alumnus of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, having earned a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Ba ...

from the university in 1920. Prior to his political career, Guizado made a fortune as a construction engineer.

Career

He served as

Arnulfo Arias Arnulfo Arias Madrid (15 August 1901 – 10 August 1988) was a Panamanian politician, medical doctor, and writer who served as the President of Panama from 1940 to 1941, again from 1949 to 1951, and finally for 11 days in October 1968. Throu ...

' Second Vice President from 1949 to 1951 and

Alcibíades Arosemena Alcibíades Arosemena Quinzada (20 November 1883, in Los Santos Province – 8 April 1958, in Panama City) was a Panamanian politician, who served 15th President of Panama. He was elected as the third presidential designate by the National Asse ...

's First Vice President from 1951 to 1952, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a title under which he participated in treaty negotiations directly with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. These negotiations covered the United States' use of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

. José became the president after his predecessor,

José Antonio Remón Cantera Colonel José Antonio Remón Cantera (11 April 1908 – 2 January 1955) was the 29th President of Panama, holding office from 1 October 1952 until his death on January 2, 1955. He was Panama's first military strongman and ruled the country behi ...

, was assassinated.

Remón Cantera affair

In 1955, during a trial from the

National Assembly of Panama The National Assembly of Panama ( es, Asamblea Nacional de Panamá), formerly the Legislative Assembly of Panama ''(Asamblea Legislativa de Panamá)'', is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Panama. It is a unicameral l ...

, Guizado was charged with the second degree

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

of his presidential predecessor,

. Cantera was assassinated on January 2, 1955 by machine gun fire at the Juan Franco Racetrack in Panama. The suspected assassin, Ruben Miro, confessed to the murder and implicated Guizado, asserting that he had known about the plot. Guizado, his son, and his business partners Radolfo Saint Malo and Tomas Nieves Perez were sentenced to

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...

and brought to jail the following day. Guizado was declared guilty as an accomplice and sentenced to six years and eight months in prison. Two years later, Ruben Miro was acquitted of the murder charge for the assassination, and Guizado was exonerated and released from prison, reclaiming the rights and privileges of a former Panamanian president.

Personal life

Guizado married his wife, Maria Paredes Guizado, in 1924. They had a son and a daughter. Guizado enjoyed playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and watching

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. He died of a heart attack in bed at the Di Lido Hotel in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which ...

at the age of 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guizado Valdes, Jose Ramon 1899 births 1964 deaths Presidents of Panama Vice presidents of Panama National Patriotic Coalition politicians Vanderbilt University alumni Panamanian expatriates in the United States