Martin Torrijos

Martin Torrijos, an opposition centrist, defeated former President Guillermo Endara in the first presidential election since Panama took over the canal.

Electoral officials telephoned Torrijos on live national television and told the 40-year-old construction magnate and former McDonald's manager that he would be president for the next five years.

In an election that often seemed more about Panama's violent past than its stable present, Torrijos campaigned heavily on the popularity of his late father and that, according to analysts, made the difference.

Omar Torrijos remains beloved for negotiating the 1977 treaty that bound Washington to handing over control of the Panama Canal in 1999.

One of six children that Omar Torrijos fathered with four women, Martin Torrijos tried to portray himself as a self-made man who was mostly raised by his grandparents and worked at McDonald's while studying in the United States.

Omar Torrijos died in 1981 in a mysterious plane crash.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 8, 2004
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