Lorena Castillo García de Varela (born July 31, 1968) is a Panamanian journalist and politician. She has served as the

First Lady of Panama First Lady and First Gentleman of Panama ( es, Primera Dama o Caballero de Panama) are unofficial titles traditionally held by the wife or husband of the president of Panama. List The following is an incomplete list of first ladies and gentlem ...

since July 1, 2014, to July 1, 2019, during the tenure of her husband, President

Juan Carlos Varela Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez (; born 13 December 1963) is a Panamanian businessman and former politician who served as the President of Panama from 2014 to 2019. Varela was Vice President of Panama from 2009 to 2014, and Minister of Foreign ...

Early life

Castillo was born on July 31, 1968, in Panama City to parents, Manuel J. Castillo and Moty Garcia. She married

in 1992. Castillo attended the

Flint Hill School Flint Hill School, founded in 1956, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school, in Oakton, Virginia, serving grades JK– 12. The school has separate upper and lower school campuses about a mile apart in Fairfax County, approximatel ...

in Oakton, Virginia in the United States. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the Latin American University of Science and Technology (ULACIT). She worked as a journalist at several organizations, including

Telemetro Telemetro is a television network headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with repeaters throughout the country. The station broadcasts in NTSC format and in Panama City also in DVB-T format. In 1996 Telemetro and RPC TV merged and formed Corporaci ...

. In 2012, she left journalism to focus on her husband's political career.

First lady

Lorena Castillo became First Lady of Panama on 1 July 2014. On November 16, 2015, Castillo was appointed a "Special Advocate for AIDS in Latin America" by UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibé during a ceremony at the

Palacio de las Garzas The ''Palacio de las Garzas'' (Herons' Palace) is the governmental office and residence of the List of heads of state of Panama, President of Panama. It receives its name because of herons roaming freely in the courtyard. The herons were first bro ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Lorena Living people 1968 births First ladies and gentlemen of Panama Panamanian journalists Panamanian women writers Panamanian women journalists Panameñista Party politicians People from Panama City 20th-century Panamanian women writers 20th-century Panamanian writers 21st-century Panamanian women writers 21st-century Panamanian writers