Mireya Moscoso

In 1969, Mireya married sixty-seven year old former President of Panama, Arnulfo Arias, who died at the age of eighty-six.

Moscoso got married to Richard Gruber, a businessman, in 1991, and the couple adopted a son, but after 6 years, she divorced Gruber.

Mireya Elisa Moscoso was born in Pedasí, Panama, to a poor school teacher on July 1, 1946, and was the youngest in the family of six siblings.

She was employed as a secretary for some time till she started campaigning on behalf of presidential candidate Arnulfo Arias in 1968. Arias had been elected as President on two earlier occasions, but had to step down before serving his complete term, owing to a coup led by the Panamanian army. This time too, he won the elections but was in office for only nine days.

Following the military uprising during his third term, Arias took refuge in the city of Miami in the United States, accompanied by Mireya. The next year, in 1969, Moscoso, who was only 23, married the 67 year old President.

During their exile, the young lady pursued a course in interior design from the 'Miami-Dade Community College'.

In 1988, Arias died, and left his coffee enterprise to his wife, who became the President of the 'Arnulfista Party' three years later.

In 1994, Mireya contested in the Presidential elections as a representative of the 'Arnulfista Party'. Her opponents were Ernesto Pérez Balladares, representative of the 'Democratic Revolutionary Party' ('PRD'), and singer Rubén Blades, candidate of the 'Papa Egoro' party.

Ernesto won the elections with a majority of 33% votes, and succeeded the former President Guillermo Endara. Moscoso and Blades on the other hand received 29% and 17% votes respectively.

In 1999, Mireya was chosen again to run as candidate for the Presidential elections, this time contesting against Martín Torrijos of the ‘Democratic Revolutionary Party' ('PRD').

The 'Arnulfista Party' candidate campaigned using Latin phrases like "Vox populi, vox Dei" ("the voice of the people is the voice of God"). She also cited her husband and promised to look into issues of education, poverty and privatization, once elected.

Initially, people had doubts about her ability since she neither had any political experience, nor did she have proper education. However, in the end it was Mireya who won the elections, beating Torijjos with a majority of 45% votes.

in her capacity as the President of Panama, Moscoso took responsibility of the Panama Canal hand-over, and addressed environmental issues in the ‘Canal Zone’, which used to be a weapon testing region for the American army.