Nicolás Ardito Barletta

Nicolás Ardito Barletta
Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino in 2014.
President of Panama
In office 11 October 1984 – 28 September 1985
Preceded by	Jorge Illueca
Succeeded by	Eric Arturo Delvalle
Personal details
Born	Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino (1938-08-21) 21 August 1938 (age 78) Aguadulce, Panama
Political party	Democratic Revolutionary Party
Spouse(s)	Maria Consuelo Rivera
Alma mater	North Carolina State University

Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino (born 21 August 1938 in Aguadulce, in the province of Coclé) was President of Panama from 11 October 1984, to 28 September 1985, running as the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in the contested elections of 1984.

Barletta Vallarino attended North Carolina State University, where he obtained in 1959 a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering, and later an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics. In 1971, he received a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. The title of his PhD dissertation was "Costs and social benefits of agricultural research in Mexico".

From 1968 until 1970 and 1973 until 1978, Barletta was one of General Omar Torrijos's trusted advisers as minister of planning and economic policy, president of the national banking commission and member of Panama's negotiation team on economic aspects, for the Panama Canal treaties. From 1978 to 1984, he was World Bank vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. In late 1983, he was approached by President Ricardo de la Espriella about running for president as de la Espriella's successor.

In February 1984, then-president de la Espriella unexpectedly resigned the office and was succeeded by his vice president, Jorge Illueca, who did not enter the race for a full term. Ardito Barletta ran as the coalition candidate backed by the National Guard, and his candidacy had the support of the government. Opposing Ardito Barletta and the Unión Nacional Democrática (UNADE) coalition was the Democratic Opposition Alliance (Alianza Democrática de Oposición, or ADO) and its candidate, the 82-year-old veteran politician Arnulfo Arias, who had previously been president three times, each time being ousted from office by a military coup.

The election was the country's first after 16 years of military rule, something that had been agreed to during US negotiations that led to the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty in 1977(Ardito Barletta was among the negotiators for Panama). The campaign proved to be bitterly contested, with both sides predicting victory. Arias and his backers claimed that Ardito Barletta was conducting the campaign unfairly. In addition, most of the media—television, radio stations, and newspapers—favored the government coalition. For example, only one of the country's five daily newspapers supported the ADO.