Juan Carlos Navarro – Minister of the Environment 

Juan Carlos Navarro, a familiar face, defeated twice as a Presidential candidate in 2009 and 2014, politician, businessman and environmentalist, will be the Minister of the Environment in the Government of José Raúl Mulino, which will begin next July 1.  Navarro earned his bachelor’s degree in Geography and Government from Dartmouth College in 1983 and completed a master’s degree in Public Policy at Harvard University in 1985.  That same year he founded the National Association for Nature Conservation (ANCON), being its first executive director. Subsequently, he was elected Mayor of Panama (1999-2004) and re-elected with 60% of the votes in 2004 (2004-2009).  In 2009 he was the running mate of Balbina Herrera, presidential candidate for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in the general elections, but they were defeated by Ricardo Martinelli. 

Then, in 2014, he became the presidential candidate of that same political party and suffered the same fate against Juan Carlos Varela.  He is the founder and CEO of the National Solar Energy Company, SA, NSolar, and is also the founding president of the Panamanian Chamber of Solar Energy.  The Ministry of the Environment is one of the institutions responsible for the closure of the mine in Donoso, province of Colón. In fact, last year Navarro spoke out against the mining contract.  “All our support to the citizens, environmental groups and organizations that call for a peaceful protest today in front of the National Assembly in rejection of the mining contract. We must all reject an unconstitutional and illegal contract, which seeks to destroy our natural heritage, through destructive and disastrous open pit mining without any control or supervision,” Navarro said on his social networks.