MOSCOSO, MIREYA

born July 1, 1946, Pedasi, Panama in full Mireya Elisa Moscoso de Gruber Panamanian politician who became Panama's first woman president in 1999. Moscoso was born to a poor family in a rural town. After graduating from high school, she worked as a secretary and in the early 1960s met Arnulfo Arias, a former president of Panama. She began working on his political campaigns, and on October 1, 1968, he was reelected. When he was deposed nine days later by General Omar Torrijos, Moscoso joined Arias in exile in Miami, Florida. There she studied interior design, and in 1969 the two were married. After Arias's death in 1988, she returned to Panama and in the early 1990s held several minor governmental posts. In 1990 Moscoso helped create the Arnulfista Party, of which she became president the following year. In 1994 she made her first run for presidency, placing second with 29 percent of the vote. Moscoso made her second bid in 1999, facing the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party's Martin Torrijos, the son of Omar Torrijos. The platforms of the two principal candidates did not differ in most respects. Overall, she was seen as the more populist candidate, Torrijos as more sympathetic to the concerns of business. Both vowed to reduce poverty, improve education, and create jobs. Moscoso also emphasized her intention to slow the government's policy of privatization. One reservation voiced about Moscoso was her lack of a college education. Voters, however, deemed this unimportant and elected Moscoso president with 45 percent of the vote; Torrijos earned 38 percent and a third candidate, Alberto Vallarino, received approximately 17 percent. In December 1999 Moscoso oversaw the U.S. handover of the Panama Canal. Running the canal as a profitable enterprise became a primary task of her administration.