Torrijos Espino, Martín Erasto

Torrijos Espino, Martín Erasto, 1963-, Panamanian political leader, president of Panama (2004-), b. Panama City. The son of Gen. Omar Torrijos Herrera, he studied economics and political science at Texas A&M Univ and embarked on a business career. In 1999 he assumed leadership of the Democratic Revolutionary party (DRP). Torrijos served in the government of President Ernesto Pérez Balladares (1994-99) and ran unsuccessfully for president in 1999. In 2004, however, Torrijos defeated former president Guillermo Endara in a landslide to win the post. In 2007 Torrijos initiated the modernization and expansion of the Panama Canal.

See Ignacio Martín-Baró