José Ramón Guizado Valdés (13 August 1899 – 2 November 1964) 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. 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 university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, having earned a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

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

construction engineer Construction engineering, also known as construction operations, is a professional subdiscipline of civil engineering that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and operations management of infrastructure such as roadways, tunnels, bri ...

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. Thro ...

' Second Vice President from 1949 to 1951 and Alcibíades Arosemena'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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. These negotiations covered the United States' use of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. José became the president after his predecessor,

José Antonio Remón Cantera Colonel José Antonio Remón Cantera (11 April 1908 – 2 January 1955) was the 16th 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, Guizado was charged with the second degree

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

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 House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

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 Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

and watching

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. 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, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean an ...

at the age of 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guizado Valdes, Jose Ramon 1899 births 1964 deaths 20th-century presidents of Panama Vice presidents of Panama National Patriotic Coalition politicians Vanderbilt University alumni Panamanian expatriates in the United States