Belisario Porras Barahona

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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 with 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 isthmus.

Working as a reporter, he aligned himself with the local 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 invade the Isthmus and naming him the Civil and Military leader in 1900. Working with General Victoriano Lorenzo and others, he began his struggle from the Costa Rica in the West, organized a volunteer army and swept through until reaching 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 sweeping into the presidency in 1912.

Preceded by Pablo Arosemena	President of Panama 1912–1916	Succeeded by Ramón Maximiliano Valdés
Preceded by Pedro Antonio Díaz	President of Panama 1918–1920	Succeeded by Ernesto Tisdel Lefevre
Preceded by Ernesto Tisdel Lefevre	President of Panama 1920–1924	Succeeded by Rodolfo Chiari

v • d • e 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 Commander of Panamanian Defense Forces (1968-1989) Omar Torrijos · Florencio Flores Aguilar · Rubén Darío Paredes · Manuel Noriega

[edit] External links

• A short biography
• Mellander, Gustavo A.(1971) The United States in Panamanian Politics: The Intriguing Formative Years. Daville,Ill.:Interstate Publishers. OCLC 138568.
• Mellander, Gustavo A.; Nelly Maldonado Mellander (1999). Charles Edward Magoon: The Panama Years. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Plaza Mayor. ISBN 1563281554. OCLC 42970390.