Laurentino "Nito" Cortizo Cohen (; born 30 January 1953) is a

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 ...

nian politician who has served as the

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 ...

since 2019. Cortizo is the former President of the National Assembly and Minister of Agricultural and Livestock Development. He was also a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

between 1994 and 2004, serving a year as chamber president.PALABRAS LLANAS - 50 años de visión y Compromiso (1906-2006)
/ref> A member of the

Democratic Revolutionary Party The Democratic Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Democrático, PRD) is a political party in Panama founded in 1979 by General Omar Torrijos. It is generally described as being positioned on the centre-left. History Since its creat ...

, he was elected as president on in the 2019 general election, winning 33.27% of the vote. He took office on 1 July 2019.

Early life and education

Laurentino Cortizo Cohen was born in Panama City to Laurentino Cortizo, a Galician from Beariz, Spain, and Esther Cohen, of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. The eldest of six siblings, Cortizo attended Javier Elementary School and completed his secondary education at La Salle College in

Diriamba Diriamba is a city and a municipality in the Carazo department of Nicaragua, with a population of 64,757 (2020 estimate). It is located 41 km south of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Geography The city's elevation (just above 500 mete ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

. He then went on to attend the

Valley Forge Military Academy Valley Forge Military Academy and College (VFMAC) is a private boarding school (grades 7–12) and military junior college in Wayne, Pennsylvania. It follows in the traditional military school format with army traditions. Though military in ...

in Pennsylvania. After this, he studied at

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campu ...

in Vermont, the oldest military college in the United States. Cortizo then attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, earning a master's degree in business administration and later a doctorate.

Early career

After graduation, Cortizo moved to Washington, D.C., in 1981 to work as a technical advisor to the secretary-general of the

Organisation 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). In November 1986, Cortizo assumed the role of Panama's alternate ambassador to the OAS. During that time, he was a member of the budget committee and the working group for the private sector. In addition, Cortizo chaired the working group for development problems of the states of the Central American isthmus and the permanent executive committee of the economic and social council.

Political career

Cortizo served as a member of the National Assembly from 1994 to 2004 and is described as being from the

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

wing of his party. He became President of the National Assembly in 2000, serving until 2001. He also served as Minister of Agricultural and Livestock Development under President

Martín Torrijos Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino (; born July 18, 1963) is a Panamanian politician who was President of Panama from 2004 to 2009. He was fathered out of wedlock by Panamanian military ruler Omar Torrijos, the ''de facto'' head of Panama from 1968 ...

, however he resigned in 2006 due to his objections to the negotiations made in pursuit of the US-Panama Free Trade Agreement.

Personal life

Cortizo is married to Yazmín Colón de Cortizo. They have two children, Carolina and Jorge. Carolina is currently the director of Wingo that is part of

Copa Airlines Compañía Panameña de Aviación, S.A., (commonly referred to as Copa and branded simply as "Copa Airlines") is the flag carrier of Panama. It is headquartered in Panama City, Panama, with its main hub at Tocumen International Airport. Copa i ...

. In June 2022, Cortizo was diagnosed with

myelodysplastic syndrome A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may ...

. Cortizo is a devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and often reads the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

References

External links

Site of Laurentino Cortizo
(in Spanish)
Biography by CIDOB
(in Spanish) , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cortizo, Laurentino 1953 births Living people Democratic Revolutionary Party politicians Jewish presidents McCombs School of Business alumni Norwich University alumni Panamanian people of Galician descent Panamanian people of Jewish descent People from Panama City Panamanian Jews Presidents of the National Assembly (Panama) Presidents of Panama Panamanian Roman Catholics