Belisario Porras Barahona

Belisario Porras Barahona (28 November 1856, Las Tablas – 28 August 1942, Panama City). Panamanian journalist and politician. He served three terms as President of Panama soon after its independence from Colombia.

Porras was born on the thirty-fifth anniversary of Panama's declaration of independence from Spain. Raised by his grandmother, his early education was paid for by his father in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, which Panama was a province of at the time. He joined his father when he went to secondary school, went on to study law at the National University in 1874, and won a scholarship from the Colombian government to study in Belgium from where he later returned to the Panamanian

Working as a reporter, he aligned himself with the local Colombian Liberal Party, and was soon the target of persecution by the reigning Conservative government in Bogotá. Exiled to Nicaragua and El Salvador, he took jobs as a professor and a reporter.

As the Thousand Days War began in Colombia, the Liberals in Panama sent for Porras to lead the invasion of the Isthmus in 1900. Working with General Victoriano Lorenzo and others, he began his struggle from Costa Rica in the West. He organized a volunteer army and reached the capital where he was defeated in the Battle of Calidonia Bridge. Porras returned to exile until 1904, after his homeland had acquired its independence, and became a diplomat until becoming president in 1912. The Panama Canal was finished during his first term in office.

Belisario Porras Barahoma was born to Demetrio Porras Cavero and Juana Gumersinda Barahona. Belisario married twice. First, in 1881 he married Eva Paniza Arosemena and they had 5 children: Belisario Roberto, Demetrio, Camilo, María Teresa, Leticia Antonia. In 1906 he married Alicia Castro and had 4 children: Rodrigo, Hernán, Alicia y Álvaro. He also had children outside of both marriages: Demetrio Augusto, Silvia, Julieta y Emilia.

References

Presidents and heads of state of Panama Manuel Amador Guerrero José Domingo de Obaldía Carlos Mendoza Federico Boyd Pablo Arosemena Belisario Porras Ramón Valdés Ciro Urriola Pedro Díaz Belisario Porras Ernesto Lefevre Belisario Porras Rodolfo Chiari Florencio Arosemena Harmodio Arias Ricardo Alfaro Harmodio Arias Juan Arosemena Ezequiel Fernández Augusto Boyd Arnulfo Arias Ricardo de la Guardia Enrique Jiménez Domingo Díaz Arosemena Daniel Chanis Roberto Chiari Arnulfo Arias Alcibíades Arosemena José Remón José Ramón Guizado Ricardo Arias Ernesto de la Guardia Roberto Chiari Marco Aurelio Robles Arnulfo Arias José María Pinilla Demetrio Lakas Aristides Royo Ricardo de la Espriella Jorge Illueca Nicolás Barletta Eric Delvalle Manuel Solís Francisco Rodríguez Guillermo Endara Ernesto Pérez Balladares Mireya Moscoso Martín Torrijos Ricardo Martinelli Juan Carlos Varela   Commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces (1968–1989) Omar Torrijos Florencio Flores Aguilar Rubén Darío Paredes Manuel Noriega