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Rod Carew batting at Yankee Stadium. Photo by Jim Accordino

Top 20 Most Famous People from Panama 

*Originally published by Ivonne in October 2022 and Updated by Vanessa R in October 2023

The southernmost country in Central America is Panama, which is bordered by the Caribbean, Costa Rica, and Columbia. The history of the country extends back to the 16th century when it was inhabited by the Spanish. It has been one of the fastest growing economies amongst the central American countries.

Panama has made its mark in all the major sectors. Including arts and culture, science and technology, commerce and business. Also visual arts, entertainments and sports. Panama’s cultural soul has been derived from European music and arts by the Spanish inhabitants who beautifully blended African and Native American culture with European culture.

Panama has been a home to several stalwarts from various fields, which have raised the bar and made the country stall in the world platform. Some of the artists like Antonia Jose Guzam, Margarita Henriquez, Jose Quintero, Aaron Zebede gave the Panama cultural world a new dimension. The country is also home to three world box championships .It has also made its mark at Olympics.

Here are the  Top 20 Most Famous People from Panama

1.Ruben Blades

Rubén Blades in tribute at the Latin Grammy 2021 photo by Tony Dandrades

Ruben is a Panama musician, singer, composer, actor, activist and polictian. He has been performing musically most often in salsa and Latin Jazz genres.  Blades has written dozens of hit songs, including “Pedro Navaja” and “El Cantante” (which became Héctor Lavoe’s signature song). He has won ten Grammy Award out of seventeen nominations and twelve Latin Grammy Awards.

He is an icon in Panama and is much admired throughout Latin America and Spain. And managed to attract 17% of the vote in his failed attempt to win the Panamanian presidency in 1994.  Blades  was appointed minister of tourism by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos for a five-year term. He holds a Bachelor of Arts‘ Law degree from the University of Panama and an LL.M in International Law from Harvard University

2. Mariano Rivera

Mariano is a Panamanian- American former professional baseball pitcher, who played 19 seasons in major League Baseball ( MLB)  for the New York Yankees from 1995-2013. He spent most  of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees closer for 17 seasons. Rivera has been a thirteen-time All star and Five-time World series champion.

He has been a MLB’s careerleader in save (652) and games finished (952) Mariano Rivera has won five American League (AL) , Ronald Relief Man Awards and 3 Delivery Man of the year Awards.He also finished in the top 3 in voting for the AL Cy Young Awards four times.

 Rivera  was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its class of 2019 in his first year of eligibility, and was the first and to date only player ever to be elected unanimously by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA).

3. Roberto Duran

Roberto was a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held the World Championship in the four weight classes, lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. As well as reigns as the undisputed and lineal lightweight champion and the lineal welterweight champion.

Roberto Duran was voted by the Ring Magazine as the filth greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He was rated as the eighth greatest fighter of all time by Bert Sugar. Also Duran was voted as the best light weight of the 20th century by the Associated press. Roberto Duran ended his career with a professional record of 119 fights, 103 wins and 70 knockouts.

4. Billy Cobham

Cobham  was born 1944. He is Panamania -American Jazz drummer who came to prominence  in the late 1960’sand early 1970’s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

He was inducted into the modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1987. And the classic drummer hall of fame in 2013. His explosive technique powered some of the genre’s most important early recordings.Including groundbreaking efforts by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

5.Roman Torres

Roman is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as defender for Cartagines and the Panama National Team. Torres has represented the Panama National team and captained them in their first ever world cup. This is where he was regarded as the star player for the national side.

His performances gained him notice with several clubs,  He was also on trial for the Championship team Nottingham Forest in December 2011–January 2012, impressing manager, Steve Cotterill. However, this move also failed to materialize

6. Daphne Rubin-Vega

Daphne Rubin-Vega photographed at the 2022 Off-Broadway opening of Kinky Boots photo by Philip Romano

Rubin has been a Panamanian-American dancer, singer-songwriter and actress. She is best known for originating the role of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway Musical rent. And Lucy in the off-Broadway play Jack Goes Boating.

Daphne has also appeared as Bombshell publicist Agnes in the second season of the Tv series Smash (2102) . As Lulsa Lopez in Tv series Katy Keene (2020). Rubin has been starred as salon owner Daniela in the film Adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s in the Heights

7. Sherly Mala

 Mala is an upcoming Venezuelan singer and songwriter based in Panama. A self-taught guitarist, her influences include Drexler, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Pablo Alborán, Cerati, and Gloria Estefan. Her voice, strong and delicate at once, brings together Latin rhythms, folk, reggae, and electronic sounds.

8. Juan Williams

Juan Williams photo by Slowking4

William has been a Panamanian-born American journalist and political analyst for Fox News Channel. He writes for several newspapers including the Washington post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. And published in magazines like The Atlantic and Time.

 Juan has worked as an editorial writer, an oped columnist a white house correspondent and national correspondent. He is also a registered democrat. He has been an author of Eyes on the Prize, America’s Civil Right Years. And a companion to the documentary series of the same name about the Civil Rights Movements.

Williams has received an Emmy Award and critical praise for his television documentary work and he has won awards for investigative journalism and for his opinion columns. He has been at Fox News since 1997.

9.Rod Carew

Rod  is a Panamanian former Major League Baseball (MLB). He was the first baseman, second baseman and coach who played from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels. Carew was the greatest contact filter in Twins History. He won the 1977 AL Most Valuable player award setting a record with 388 batting average. 

Rod Carew has appeared in 18 straight All-star games and led the AL in hits three times with his 239 hits. Hence being the 12th most in a season at the time. He won seven  AL batting titles the second most AL batting titles in history behind Ty Cobb.

Rod Carew had been renamed in2016 AL battling in the American League battling title. He became the 16th member of the 3000 hit club with a single to left field off Frank Viola. Carew was elected to the National Baseball of fame in 1991.

10. Danilo ‘Cholo’ Perez

anilo Pérez plays the piano with Tito Puente Jr. and the Panama Jazz Festival Ensemble, at the free concert in Plaza Catedral, San Felipe, Panama City, Panama. photo by Daniel Henry Thomas

 He has won Four times a Grammy award nominee. Danilo Peréz  has been  the most influential of all Panama-born musicians. A pianist and jazz composer, Peréz has performed with some of the world’s biggest talents including Dizzy Gillespie, Jack deJohnnette and Tito Puente. His foundation, the Danilo Peréz Foundation, aims at teaching music to underprivileged children. Peréz dreams of turning Panama into the jazz capital of Latin America.

11. Carlos Fuentes

Mexican-born Carlos Fuentes Macías was an essayist and novelist. Christopher Unborn, Aura, The Old Gringo, and The Death of Artemio Cruz are a few of his masterpieces. In his obituary, the New York Times described him as “one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world” and stated that he was a major contributor to the “explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and ’70s,” known as the Latin American Boom.

In the meanwhile, he was described as “Mexico’s most celebrated novelist” by The Guardian. The Miguel de Cervantes Prize and Mexico’s highest medal, the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Medal, are only two of his numerous literary honours. He was always considered a serious contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, even though he was never given the honour.

12. Manuel Noriega

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Former soldier and politician Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno comes from Panama. From 1983 through 1989, he ruled Panama as a military dictator. He was ousted from office, arrested during the US invasion of Panama in 1989, held as a prisoner of war, and flown by air to the US. In April 1992, Noriega faced eight charges of cocaine trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering.

The term that Noriega served in U.S. prisons came to an end in September 2007, subject to the resolution of demands for extradition made by France and Panama due to convictions in absentia for money laundering in 1999 and murder in 1995. In April 2010, France’s plea for extradition was approved. April 27, 2010, he landed in Paris, and as a requirement of the extradition, he had a retrial.

13. Omar Torrijos

Between 1968 and 1981, Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera held the position of de facto dictator of Panama, serving as both the Commander of the Panamanian and National Guard. Torrijos was titled “Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution” and “Supreme Chief of Government,” although he was never the country’s actual president.

He was seen as a lefty despot, but because he fought communism, the United States supported him at the same time. Progressivism was the foundation of his government instead. At noon on December 31, 1999, Torrijos achieved complete sovereignty over the Panama Canal through the negotiation of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties, for which he is best known. Martín Torrijos, his son, was elected president and held office from 2004 to 2009.

14. Manny Sanguillén

Former Major League catcher Manuel De Jesus Sanguillén Magan, nicknamed “Sangy” by most, is a professional baseball player. He was chosen for the All-Star team three times, in 1971, 1972, and 1975. He primarily played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he was a member of the Oakland Athletics until 1977. With tenth-best batting average in history and fourth-best since World War II, Sanguillen has batted.296 for Major League Baseball during his career.

15. El General

El General, a Panamanian reggae musician, is considered by some to be one of the founders of reggaeton. In the early 1990s, he founded the Spanish-speaking dancehall that later became reggaeton. Some of the earliest examples of this were the globally popular songs “Te Ves Buena” and “Tu Pum Pum”. Both songs were staggering hits in the US in their Spanish rap versions.

Many other Spanish rappers, such as Vico C and DJ Negro, became well-known in the mainstream after making a name for themselves in the business sector. He has produced a number of successful songs in Latin America, and his dance music is unique and enjoyable to listen to. Latin America is fond of his musical works throughout time.

16. Jorge Velásquez

Jorge Velásquez was a Hall of Fame jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. He began his career in his native Panama and moved to the United States as a teenager. In 1967, he won more races than any other American jockey and in 1969, he was the top money-winning jockey. In 1978, he became nationally famous for his role in one of the greatest rivalries in racing history.

He finished second aboard Alydar to Affirmed in all three of the American Triple Crown races that year, losing by a combined total of less than two lengths. Velasquez and Alydar later beat Affirmed in the 1978 Travers Stakes, achieving a small measure of satisfaction. In 1981, he rode Pleasant Colony to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, but missed winning the Triple Crown when they finished third to Summing in the Belmont Stakes. Velasquez won the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In 1986, he was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award by his peers, and in 1990, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

17. Julio Mario Santo Domingo

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Santo Domingo comes from an affluent family and can easily be described as rich. In fact he was Mario Santo Domingo and Beatriz Pumarejo’s son. Among the several businesses that made up the “Santo Domingo Group,” he was in charge of more than a hundred.

With a $6 billion US wealth, Forbes magazine ranked him as one of the world’s richest people. He earned his degree from Virginia University. In honour of his father, he founded a philanthropic group that promotes social progress in Colombia.

18. Héctor López

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From 1955 through 1966, Héctor Headley López Swainson was a Major League Baseball player with the Kansas City Athletics and the New York Yankees, mostly playing left field and third base. Notable roles include being the third outfielder for the Maris/Mantle Yankees, the first black manager at the AAA level of baseball, and the holder of the club hitting streak record for the Kansas City Athletics. In 1961 and 1962, López was a member of the Yankees World Series winning teams. He has placed among the top 10 American League hitters in a number of different seasons in terms of hits, games played, times hit by pitch, at-bats, doubles, triples, slugging percentage, sacrifice flies, and sacrifice hits. 

19. Lorna

Lorna Zarina Aponte, popularly known as Lorna, is a female rapper and reggaeton singer, born on May 11, 1983, in Panama. She gained fame with her song “Papi chulo…” At the age of thirteen, Lorna decided to pursue her dream of becoming a singer and solo artist. She searched for a producer and DJ who could help her create a song.

Eventually, she participated and won a talent competition for aspiring vocalists in Panama City, with the assistance of a producer. This opportunity led to the recording of her first single. Soon after, she began collaborating with the well-known Panamanian producer, El Chombo.

20. Alonso Edward

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Alonso Edward is a Panamanian sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2007, he broke the junior South American record in the 100 metres. He participated in and finished sixth in his first World Junior Championship in 2008.

He made significant progress in 2009, setting new national records in May and winning the 100 and 200-metre races at the South American Championships in Athletics. Before the 2009 World Championships, he set a new national record in the 200 metres and finished as the fourth fastest runner of the year. He set a new South American record in the 200-meter final of his first World Championship, becoming the youngest medalist in history in that specific event.