- Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (born February 11, 1938) was a Panamanian general and the de facto military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989, despite never being the official President of Panama. He was initially a strong ally of the United States and worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the late 1950s to 1986. By the late 1980s, relations had turned extremely tense between Noriega and the United States government, …
- Omar Torrijos
Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera was a Panamanian army officer and the de facto leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981. Torrijos never held elected office in Panama, and was never president. He did hold the title of "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution" during a period in the late 1970s. Torrijos is best known for negotiating the treaties that eventually gave Panama full sovereignty over the Panama Canal, in 1978.
- Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera (born November 29 1969 in Panama City, Panama) is a relief pitcher for Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera is frequently referred to as the greatest postseason relief pitcher of all time, and is often considered to be the greatest closer in baseball history. He has the 3rd most regular season career saves in Major League history, is the American League's career leader in saves, and has won 4 World Series titles with the Yankees.
- Rod Carew
On January 8, 1991, Rod Carew became only 22nd player in history to be voted into the Baseball Hall Fame on the first ballot. Rod Carew is one of the most talented players to ever don a major league uniform. During his illustrious nineteen-year career, he was selected to eighteen All-Star teams. He is the all-time All-Star vote leader with thirty-three million votes - six million more than the runner-up.
- Eric Jackson
Eric Jackson (born 1952 in Colon, Panama) is a politician, journalist, and radio talk show host. He is the chief editor of "The Panama News", and host of the Wappin' Radio Show. Both of which are made in Panama City, Panama.
- Samuel Lewis Navarro
Samuel Lewis Navarro is the first vice-president and foreign minister of Panama. He began serving in these posts on September 1 2004 when the administration of Martín Torrijos took office. Navarro was elected First Vice President of the Republic of Panama for the period 2004-2009 by popular vote on May 2, 2004. He took oath on September 1st together with President Martín Torrijos Espino and Second Vice President Rubén Arosemena Valdés.
- Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna and recorded a number of albums with them. However, Fania continued to release recordings compiled from their archives for some years afterwards. In the early 1980s, Blades began his career in films as a composer of soundtracks.
- Carlos Lee
Carlos Noriel Lee (born June 20, 1976 in Aguadulce, Panama) is a left fielder in Major League Baseball who plays for the Houston Astros. He bats and throws right-handed. He is married and has two daughters, Cassandra and Karla and a son, named Karlos. Lee owns and operates cattle ranches in Panama and Houston. His brother, also named Carlos, plays professional baseball in the Brewers minor league system.
- El General
El General is a Panamanian musical artist considered by some to be the father of reggaeton. He has a unique, easy to listen to style of dance music and has produced many well known songs all over Latin America. His musical works have become popular in Latin America over the last few years. This style is called Spanish Reggae, because he makes reggae music with Spanish lyrics. This is also called reggaetón.
- Alberto Aleman
Alberto Aleman Zubieta is the current Administrator of the Panama Canal. Born in Panama City, Aleman obtained degrees in both industrial and civil engineering from Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, United States. He began his professional career in the construction field at a very young age.
- Juan Carlos Navarro
Juan Carlos Navarro (born October 19, 1961) is a Panamanian businessman, environmentalist, and politician and is the current Mayor of Panama City, Panama
- Irving Saladino
Irving Saladino is a Panamanian long jump athlete. At the World Indoor Championships he finished second with a new South American indoor record of 8.29 metres. In 2006 he won five out of six Golden League events in the same season, which earned him a total of $83,333. With 8.56 metres achieved in May 2006 he is the current South American record holder. The 2006 world leader in the Long Jump, launched his 2007 season with the furthest leap of the year, 8.53m (0.2 m/s wind), …
- Ricardo Martinelli
Ricardo Martinelli is a Panamanian politician and businessman. He is the owner of Importadora Ricamar, S.A. (Super 99) Panama's largest chain of supermarkets (and the country's largest private company) and several other business interests. During the presidency of Ernesto Pérez Balladares (1994-1999) he served from September 1994 to July 1996 as Social Security Director.
- Hugo Spadafora
Hugo Spadafora (born in 1940) was a Panamanian doctor and guerrilla fighter in Guinea-Bissau and Nicaragua. He criticized the military in Panama, which led to his murder in 1985. Born in Chitre, Republic of Panama, Spadafora was a doctor, graduated from the University of Bologna, in Italy. He served as a combat doctor with the independence guerrilla of Guinea-Bissau. Originally a critic of the military regime headed by Omar Torrijos, …
- Jorge Illueca
Jorge Enrique Illueca Sibauste (born September 17 1918) is a Panamanian politician and diplomat. He was born in Panama City, Panama. He attended the University of Panama, Harvard University and the University of Chicago (Doctor of Law, 1955). He became one of the most important lawyers in his country, taught as a professor at the University of Panama, and by the 1970s had begun his diplomatic career, at first working at the United Nations on international law issues.
- Danilo Pérez
Danilo Pérez is a Panamanian pianist and composer.
- Justo Arosemena
Justo Arosemena was a Panamanian jurist and politician. After studies in Bogotá and Magdalena y el Istmo, he taught law at the Colegio de Panamá and became a secretary in the government of the Estado Libro del Istmo (1840-41). As a member of the Congress of Nueva Granada (1850) and as senator of Istmo de Panamá (1853), he authored many legal codifications and was instrumental in bringing about the autonomy of the Colombian federal state of Panama.
- Fernando Jara
Fernando Jara (born December 18, 1987 in Panama) is thoroughbred horse racing jockey in the United States. Jara had become a well-established jockey in Panama at the age of 15 and came to the United States in late December of 2003.
- Celestino Caballero
Celestino "Pelenchin" Caballero is the current WBA super bantamweight boxing champion. He has a professional record of 25-2, with 18 wins coming by way of knockout.
- Roberto Brown
Roberto Brown (born 15 July, 1977 in Panama) is a football forward who last played for the Colorado Rapids. The big striker has played for numerous teams in Central America and has also spent some time in Europe. He became a Moldovan Cup winner in 2002 with FC Sheriff Tiraspol, scoring their second goal in the final against Nistru Otaci. He made his debut for the Panama national football team in 2000 against Guatemala, immediately making an impact by scoring a goal.
- Luis Tejada
Luis Carlos Tejada Hansell (born March 23, 1982) is a Panamanian football (soccer) striker, who plays for the Panamanian national team and was most recently a member of Deportivo Pereira in Mustang Cup.
- Jaime Penedo
Jaime Penedo(Peñedo) (born 26 September 1981) is a Panamanian football goalkeeper who currently plays for Osasuna B; the reserve team of CA Osasuna. Back in Panamá, he used to play for CD Árabe Unido. Penedo holds a Spanish passport. He was a member of the Panamanian 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup team, who finished second in the tournament. He collected over 20 caps since making his debut in 2003 as a substitute for Francisco Portillo in a 1-0 win over Cuba.
- Ricardo Alberto Arias
Ricardo Alberto Arias (born 11 September, 1939 in Panama City, Panama) is the Ambassador to the United Nations for Panama, appointed in 2004. He is also a founding member and partner of Galindo, Arias and Lopez law firm, and is a member of the Panamanian Bar Association, the Interamerican Bar Association, and the International Bar Association.
- Luis Moreno
Luis Moreno (born 19 March 1981 in Panama, Panama) is a football defender who currently plays in Panama for Copa Mustang team Santa Fe. He made his debut for the Panama national football team in 2001.
- Felipe Baloy
Felipe Baloy is a soccer defender who currently plays in Mexico for Primera División de México team Club de Fútbol Monterrey and is the current captain of the Panama national football team. For the 2007 Libertadores Cup, Baloy was loaned out to Club América. Felipe Baloy was named in the All-Tournament Team for the 2007 Gold Cup.
- Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer started his DJ career in 1988, when DJ’ing in his country of Panama was an unusual hobby. He got into the electronic music scene in 1996 as DJ and promoter building the scene in Panama. He was the first promoter in his country to throw large events; this helped him share turntables with the world’s best, such as Paul van Dyk, Tiësto, Sasha, and Oscar G. He has produced over 24 signed tracks with support from top DJ icons like John Digweed, Steve Lawler, …
- Justine Pasek
Justine Pasek is a Panamanian model, goodwill ambassador, and former Miss Universe. Yostin Lissette Pasek Patiño was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, the daughter of a Panamanian homemaker and Polish engineer. Affectionately called by her Polish name, "Justyna", she lived in Ukraine for a year, but spent most of her childhood in the village of Wużuczyn near Zamość, Poland. After her mother finished her studies in chemistry, the family moved to Panama.
- Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham, born May 16 1944 in Panama, is one of the world's best and most influential drummers known for his jazz fusion in the 1970s, with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, where he pioneered a powerful style of drumming with jazz, rock and funk influences. He has played and recorded with musicians including Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Larry Coryell, and Horace Silver; and is famous for his fast, explosive, and powerful playing.
- Bruce Chen
Bruce Kastulo Chen is a pitcher who is currently a member of the Texas Rangers organization. He previously played for the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, and Atlanta Braves. He attended Institute of Panama and studied civil engineering during the baseball off-season at Georgia Tech.
- Roberto Kelly
Roberto Conrado (Gray) Kelly (born October 1, 1964 in Panama City, Panama) is a former Outfielder in Major League Baseball. He was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1982 and went on to play for the New York Yankees (1987-92 and 2000), Cincinnati Reds (1993-94), Atlanta Braves (1994), Montreal Expos (1995), Los Angeles Dodgers (1995), Minnesota Twins (1996-97), Seattle Mariners (1997) and Texas Rangers (1998-99).
- Victoriano Lorenzo
Victoriano Lorenzo is considered one of the great heroes of Panamanian history, although his story and motives are sometimes debated by different sectors in his homeland. Born when the isthmus was still a part of Colombia, Lorenzo died during the Thousand Days War, shortly after which Panama gained its independence after many different attempts dating back to 1830. Born sometime around the 1870s to poor campesinos in what is now the province of Cocle, …
- Reggie Jackson
Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson (born May 18 1946), nicknamed "Mr. October" for his clutch hitting ability in the post-season, is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1967 to 1987. His father, Martinez Jackson, was a black Puerto Rican who played in the Negro Leagues. Reggie Jackson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 in recognition of his talents.
- Carlos Rivera
Carlos Rivera (born 30 May 1979 in Panama, Panama) is a football defender who currently plays in Panama for ANAPROF team San Francisco. Rivera made his debut for the Panama national football team in 2004 and has collected 28 caps as of June 2007. During the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group C opener against Honduras, Rivera scored his first ever international goal for Panama.
- José Miguel Alemán
José Miguel Alemán is a Panamanian politician. He spent a significant part of his childhood living in Washington D.C., while his father, Roberto Alemán Zubieta, was serving as one of the leading negotiators for the Robles-Johnson Treaties, and later on as Ambassador of Panama to the United States (1968-1969). José Miguel first entered the Panamanian political scene in the 1994 elections, …
- Zulu
ZULU (born Dominic Rowland, November 14, 1975) Panamanian dancehall reggae singer.
- Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán is a famous boxer from Guarare, Panamá, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest lightweight boxers of all-time. In 2002, he was chosen by The Ring Magazine to be the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He held world titles at four different weights - lightweight (1972-79), welterweight (1980), junior middleweight (1983-84) and middleweight (1989). He was also the only boxer to have fought in five different decades.
- Luis Russell
Luis Russell was a jazz pianist and bandleader. Luis Carl Russell was born on Careening Cay, near Bocas del Toro, Panama, in a family of Afro-Caribbean ancestry. His father was a music teacher, and young Luis learned to play violin, guitar, trombone, and piano. He began playing professionally accompanying silent film by 1917, then played at a casino in the city of Colón, Panama. In 1919 he won 3000 United States dollars in a lottery, …
- Ismael Laguna
Ismael Laguna Meneses (born June 28, 1943, in Colon, Panama) was a professional boxer. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. Known as "El Tigre Colonense", Laguna was the Panmanian Featherweight Champion from 1962-63. He later was the World Lightweight Champion in 1965 and later regained the belt in 1970, …
- Arturo Vallarino
Arturo Ulises Vallarino is a Panamanian politician who served as the First Vice President of President of Panama Mireya Moscoso. The Second Vice President under President Moscoso was Dominador Kaiser Baldonero. He is the leader of the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement, also known as Molirena. Vallarino's term as First Vice President of Panama began on September 1 1999 and ended August 30 2004, the same dates as the term of President Moscoso.
- Ricardo Phillips
Ricardo Phillips (born 31 January, 1975 in Panama City, Panama) is a football midfielder who currently plays in Panama for ANAPROF team San Francisco. He made his debut for the Panama national football team in 1996 and collected over 50 caps, scoring 8 goals.