Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal (born 11 March 1952, in Panama City) is the 49th and current President of the Republic of Panama. He is a Panamanian politician and businessman of Italian descent from his father's side.
리카르도 알베르토 마르티넬리(1952년 3월 11일 파나마 시티 출생)는 현재 파마나 공화국의 49대 대통령이다. 그는 파나마인 정치인이며 동시에 그의 아버지로부터 상속받은 이탈리안의 비즈니스맨이다.
1. Early life
Martinelli is the son of Ricardo Martinelli Pardini and Gloria Berrocal Fabrega. He completed his secondary education at Staunton Military Academy in Staunton, Virginia in the United States. In 1973, he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Arkansas. He later earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the INCAE Business School. Martinelli is married to Marta Linares and has three children: Ricardo Martinelli Linares, Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares and Carolina Martinelli Linares.
마르티넬리는 리카르도 마르티넬리 파디니와 글로리아 베로칼 파브레가의 아들이다. 그는 그의 두번째 교육을 1973년 미국의 버즈니아주 사타운톤에 위치한 사타운톤 군사 학교에서 완성했다. 그는 경영 과정 학사 학위를 아르칸사스 대학교에서 받고 졸업하였다. 후에 그는 경영 과정 박사를 INCAE 비즈니스 스쿨에서 받았다.
2. Business career
Martinelli is currently the chairman of the board of Panama's Super 99 supermarket chain. He is chairman of two other companies and sits on the boards of at least eight other companies.
3. Politics
During the presidency of Ernesto Pérez Balladares, Martinelli served as Director of Social Security from 1994 to 1996. From September 1999 to January 2003, during the presidency of Mireya Moscoso, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal and as the Minister for Canal Affairs.
Martinelli is the president of the Democratic Change party, which was founded in May 1998. He led the party and was the presidential candidate during the 2004 general election, when his party came last; Martinelli received 5.3% of the vote and came in a distant fourth place in the presidential election.
Martinelli was the leader of Democratic Change and presidential candidate in the 2009 general election. He made promises to cut political corruption and reduce violent crime and spent an estimated $35 million on promoting his campaign. Martinelli was the favourite to win the election and opinion polls gave him a double-digit lead over the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party-People's Party coalition. He had the support of the Alliance for Change, a group of political parties which includes his own Democratic Change party, the Panameñista Party, the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement and the Patriotic Union Party.
In 2004 Ricardo Martinelli founded "The Ricardo Martinelli Foundation", for which he acts as fundraiser. The Foundation grants more than 8,000 scholarships a year to poor students with good scholastic averages.
On May 3, 2009, Ricardo Martinelli won the national elections by a landslide, with over 60% of the votes compared to his closest rival, Balbina Herrera, who received about 36%. This was the second-largest majority in Panamanian history, and the largest since 1989. He was sworn in on July 1, 2009.
Since coming to office, Martinelli has introduced a number of measures designed to alleviate poverty, including a $100 monthly pension for the elderly, an increase in the minimum wage, and subsidies for students to meet the cost of uniforms and supplies.
An August 2009 U.S. State Department cable signed by then-U.S. Ambassador to Panama Barbara J. Stephenson and released by the whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks "describes Martinelli’s 'autocratic tendencies such as asking the U.S. government for help to wiretap political opponents," and says that "after meeting the Panamanian president, [Stephenson] is under the impression that Martinelli 'may be willing to set aside the rule of law in order to achieve his political and developmental goals.'" The cable also states that "Martinelli has resorted to 'bullying and blackmailing' of private businesses" and told Stephenson that “he had already met with the heads of Panama’s four mobile phone operators and discussed methods for obtaining call data.” It concludes by noting that "[m]ost of [Martinelli’s] government appointments have favored loyalty over competence.”
4. Honors
On February 20, 2010 The University of Arkansas established the Ricardo A. Martinelli Berrocal Scholarship to provide financial aid to prospective University of Arkansas students from Panama. He was also presented with the Citation of Distinguished Alumnus award, and made an official ambassador of the State of Arkansas by Governor Mike Beebe.
On October 30, 2010, Martinelli was in attendance for the University of Arkansas's homecoming festivities and crowned the 2010 Homecoming King. The Razorback beat the Vanderbilt Commodores 49-14.
출처 : 위키디피아
"I Dreamed A Dream"
