Nicolás Ardito Barletta
President of Panama
Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino (born 21 August 1938) is a Panamanian politician who served as the 30th President of Panama from 11 October 1984 to 28 September 1985, running as the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in the contested elections of 1984.
Education
Barletta attended North Carolina State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1959, and later an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics. In 1971, he received a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. The title of his PhD dissertation was "Costs and social benefits of agricultural research in Mexico".
Early career
From 1968 until 1970 and from 1973 until 1978, Barletta served as one of General Omar Torrijos's most trusted advisers as minister of planning and economic policy, president of the national banking commission and a member of Panama's negotiation team on economic aspects for the Panama Canal treaties. From 1978 to 1984, he was World Bank vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. In late 1983, he was approached by President Ricardo de la Espriella about running for president as de la Espriella's successor.
Presidency (1984–1985)
Election in May 1984
In February 1984, President Ricardo de la Espriella unexpectedly resigned the office and was succeeded by his vice president, Jorge Illueca, who did not enter the race for a full term. Barletta ran as the coalition candidate backed by the National Guard, and his candidacy had the support of the government.
“Nicolás Ardito Barletta” enters the record as president of Panama. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Nicolás, Ardito and Barletta can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nicolás Ardito Barletta” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.