Ricardo Arias Calderón
| Ricardo Arias Calderón | |
|---|---|
| 1st Vice President of Panama | |
|
In office December 1990 – December 17, 1992 |
|
| President | Guillermo Endara |
| Preceded by | Carlos Ozores Typaldos |
| Succeeded by | Guillermo Ford |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 4, 1933 Panama City, Panama |
| Died | February 13, 2017 (aged 83) Panama City, Panama |
| Nationality | Panamanian |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Party of Panama |
| Spouse(s) | Teresa |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Yale, Sorbonne |
Ricardo Arias Calderón (May 4, 1933 – February 13, 2017) was a Panamanian politician who served as First Vice President from 1989 to 1992. A Roman Catholic who studied at Yale and the Sorbonne, Arias returned to Panama in the 1960s to work for political reform. He went on to become the president of the Christian Democratic Party of Panama and a leading opponent of the military government of Manuel Noriega. In 1984, he ran as a candidate for Second Vice President on the ticket of three-time former president Arnulfo Arias, but they were defeated by pro-Noriega candidate Nicolás Ardito Barletta.
Following an annulled 1989 election and the US invasion of Panama later in the same year, Arias Calderón was sworn in as First Vice President of Panama under President Guillermo Endara. After growing tensions in the ruling coalition, Arias resigned his position on December 17, 1992, stating that the government had not done enough to help Panama's people. He continued to be an active voice in Panamanian politics following his resignation, supporting the Panama Canal expansion project and opposing the extradition of Noriega.
Arias' maternal family was from Nicaragua, having left during political upheaval there before his birth. One of Arias' great uncles ran for president in Panama, while another was a supporter of the Nicaraguan revolutionary Sandino, a family history that gave Arias an early interest in politics. His father, an engineer, died when Arias was two years old, and he was raised primarily by his mother, aunt, and grandmother. His mother later remarried to a Panamanian ambassador to the United States.
Arias studied at Culver Military Academy in Indiana in the US. He later majored in English literature at Yale University and philosophy at Paris-Sorbonne University. A Roman Catholic, Arias was heavily influenced by Catholic French philosopher and ethicist Jacques Maritain. Aesthetic, publicly stiff, and accused of aloofness, Arias would later be nicknamed "Arias Cardinal Calderón" during his political career.
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